Introducing the Go Plan: INCOG Unveils a Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan for the Greater Tulsa Area

The Indian Nations Council of Governments (or INCOG) is a voluntary group of local and tribal governments in the Greater Tulsa community that offers planning and coordination services to help with such ongoing Tulsa metro-area challenges as land use, transportation, community and economic development, environmental quality, public safety, and services for older adults. Last year, INCOG put forth a mass-transit master plan, and now --- in an effort that will roll out next week as well as later in the spring --- INCOG is offering a bike-and-pedestrian master plan. This effort, known as the "people-powered" Go Plan, is thus described at the official Go Plan website: "[This] bicycle/pedestrian Master Plan...will provide a comprehensive regional plan for pedestrian and bicycle improvements; provide connectivity to the existing regional trail network using on-street treatments; improve pedestrian and bicycle safety; provide a more strategic approach to competing for pedestrian and bicycle funding; and identify barriers, with solutions, for residents to safely access destinations using walking or bicycling modes within the Tulsa region. The plan includes 11 cities in the Tulsa metropolitan area: Bixby, Broken Arrow, Catoosa, Collinsville, Coweta, Glenpool, Jenks, Owasso, Sand Springs, Skiatook, and Tulsa." Our two guests on ST, who bring us up to speed on this plan, are James Wagner, a transportation projects coordinator at INCOG, and Jeff Ciabotti, a senior planner with Toole Design Group, which is serving as a consultant to INCOG in this capacity. (Toole Design is a nationally recognized planning, engineering, and landscape architecture firm specializing in bicycle and pedestrian transportation.) Wagner and Ciabotti also tell us about a special kick-off event for the Go Plan that's scheduled for Tuesday evening, March 4th, at the TCC Center for Creativity in downtown Tulsa.