TULSA, Okla. — After public meetings in July, the Indian Nations Council of Governments is now working with communities to help improve walkability, biking, and neighborhood connectivity.
The intersection of Greenwood and Oklahoma in north Tulsa used to be riskier to cross. It’s near Carver Middle School, a senior housing complex, and neighborhoods of single-family homes.
INCOG came along and added features to make it safer and more accessible, such as well-designed ramps for people with wheelchairs and high-visibility crosswalks.
“This intersection right here, they’ve improved it a lot,” Liyah James told us.
James used to go to Carver Middle School. She said trying to cross Greenwood before it was upgraded “was kind of like running really, just running, trying to gauge the traffic.”
In fact, she said the intersection used to be so dangerous she and her classmates would often avoid it altogether and walk all the way down to the traffic light at the intersection of Greenwood and Pine or cross in front of First Baptist Church North Tulsa.
These upgrades are something INCOG wants to replicate across the metropolitan area.
“This intersection shows investment by the city to improve safety,” John Tankard, a principal planner for INCOG, told 2 News. “But there’s still a lot of work to do, and this is something we want to model across the whole region.”
While James is thankful for the improvements to that intersection, she said that those can always go further.
“I think they need to be just a little bit more work done with the bike paths and having some more things that are accessible for people who are riding their bikes,” she told us, “And maybe a little bit more control in that intersection like they have with the elementary kids.”
Tankard thinks even with that particular intersection, some improvements can be made. For instance, there are no sidewalks on either side of Oklahoma St.
INCOG and the Metropolitan Planning Organization are updating the region’s master plan for bike and pedestrian infrastructure, the GO! Plan. While the agency introduced the public to the next phase of this master plan last month, Tuesday and Wednesday nights they will host workshops to dive deeper.
Tankard told us they will get into the nitty gritty and work closely with the public on bettering certain intersections and areas throughout the region.
“We can’t do it overnight,” said Tankard. “You know, entire neighborhoods would take millions of dollars to do, so we have to be strategic with our investments. We have limited funds to make improvements, so we need to identify those key locations where there are land uses that will generate pedestrian activity.”
INCOG not only wants to hear people’s ideas about how to make things safer for cyclists and pedestrians in their neighborhoods — but also how to improve connectivity.
James said that hard-to-cross streets “can definitely divide a neighborhood.”
“I rode the bus for like eight months in Oklahoma City, and it took like an hour and a half to two hours just to get somewhere that was 15 minutes away,” she recounted. “So, I think— and especially without the sidewalk, it was way harder to get [from] one bus stop to the other one. But I think they’ve been making a lot of improvements in Tulsa, and I think that it’s gonna continue on.”
Tankard agreed, saying, “It reduces the opportunity for community interaction.”
“People are either more isolated, at their homes, or they’re in their automobiles traveling everywhere,” he continued. “I love driving around and listening to music, but … it’s different than when I’m walking around my neighborhood, and I run into people I know, people walking their dogs, people rolling strollers, getting their kids out to see where they live and understand their environment better.
"Not to mention, just like literally smelling the flowers, being able to interact with our physical environment beyond the confines of an automobile is something that, if you have the opportunity to do it, really can improve the quality of your life,” he added.
Those workshops are open to everybody. Tuesday’s workshop will run from 5 to 7pm at the Hardesty Regional Library and Wednesday’s will happen during the same hours at the Rudisill Regional Library.
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