TULSA, Okla. — A local group took to the streets for a year-long program conducting "walk audits" of intersections throughout Tulsa.
>> PAST COVERAGE: "Walk Audit" to help protect pedestrians and bicyclists
The goal is to provide information on how the city could improve street safety for pedestrians.
With that program complete, 2 News Oklahoma checked in with the organization and city to see where things stand now.
Accidents involving cars and pedestrians seem to be happening more and more often. In fact, according to theActivate 918 dashboard, 23 pedestrians died in 2021 compared to 16 in 2019 and 12 in 2018.
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee hopes to reduce those numbers by finding ways to make what they consider the city's most dangerous intersections — safer.
Tulsa streets serve as vital paths to family, friends, jobs, and fulfillment, but they can also be dangerous for people like Sean Lewis.
Lewis took time volunteering to be a part of three of the seven walk audits the BPAC conducted.
His one goal — “making sure that it’s accessible for everyone and making sure everybody can get where they need to go.”
He navigates the city streets on two wheels most of the time. In some areas, like at 11th and Garnett, Lewis found himself riding in the street.
“That makes me a little nervous because you have to put yourself in the roadway, and with me being in a wheelchair, I don’t sit up very high, so I always worry. I always think to myself 'Do you see me out here right now? Don’t run me over.',” he said.
In Tulsa, even able-bodied people face obstacles that could lead to injury and even death. 23 pedestrians died on Tulsa streets in 2021, and more than 160 people have died in the last 12 years, according to the Activate 918 dashboard.
It's something Mitch Drummond, the chair of BPAC, said the city can help prevent.
“One of the common problems that we see is a lack of walking infrastructure. We have gaps in our sidewalks along major corridor paths. Even where we have sidewalks, a sidewalk may terminate and your left to walk in grass or mud,” Drummond said.
Over the last year, the group did walk audits taking notes of potential dangers like no sidewalks.
Drummond and Lewis, along with some city officials and city councilors, walked seven major intersections.
“They had a first-hand look to see how many opportunities there are for improvement," Drummond said. "What we are hoping is that turns into prioritizing these improvements and putting the proper amount of funding behind them.”
The group made reports of maintenance-type issues to the city's 311 line. Other larger problems, they'll bring up in a letter to the city council and mayor.
When 2 News Oklahoma's met with Matt Liechti, the city's planning coordination manager for engineering services, we asked, “having them do these walk audits, is that helpful to you guys?”
“Yeah, anytime that we have the opportunity to have boots on the ground and gather information and the concerns of citizens, we would like to take that into consideration with any package or project that we construct,” Liechti said.
However, it comes down to funding, but if there is an immediate issue, he said the city will act more quickly.
“A significant tripping hazard, something that would result in the public having to walk in the street where we witness that, something like that,” he explains.
Right now, the city says it hasn't yet received the committee's full results.
Lewis told 2 News he wants to be a voice for Tulsans who use wheelchairs.
“I just think it will take time to get everything where it needs to be, but we are on the right road,” Lewis said.
Drummond said BPAC will be sending a formal recommendation with some of their findings to the city council and mayor in the coming weeks. As for the walk audits, he hopes more organizations will do them and make recommendations of their own.
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