Heading to ONEOK Field, Guthrie Green or another Brady Arts District stop this weekend? Be aware things will look a little different.
Protected bike lanes have been painted on Detroit Avenue and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard between the Brady Arts District and OSU Tulsa. You’ll park left of the bike lane rather than along the curb. That might seem weird, but on-street parking spaces form the barrier between cyclists and cars.
City Traffic Engineer Lisa Simpson said there’s also eye-catching green paint in certain areas drivers should pay attention to.
"That's going to bring awareness that they are crossing the bicycle lane and to look out for cyclists and to yield to them," Simpson said.
The bike lanes are partly meant to encourage exercise, but they're also there to help the roughly one in three Tulsans who doesn’t have a car.
"Either they're too young or they can't afford a car or they simply don't want to have a car," Simpson said. "So, we feel it's our obligation to give our community alternative choices so that they can get to the places where they work and live and play."
You’ll see more protected bike lanes as more recommendations of a walkability study are implemented.
"Boulder between First and 10th is going to be the next one that you're going to see, and Cheyenne, that same stretch," Simpson said. "We're also looking at Archer for the entire width of downtown for a similar treatment with bike lanes, and Elgin and Third Street."
The bike lanes on Detroit Avenue and Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard are part of a project funded by 2008 Fix Our Streets bonds.
