bikewalkokc

In 2018, the City of Oklahoma City adopted its first bike and pedestrian master plan, bikewalkokc. The plan aims to transform the bicycling and walking experience within Oklahoma City to substantially improve the quality of life and health of our residents.

bikewalkokc consists of two interrelated plans: the Pedestrian Plan and the Bicycle and Trails Plan. Since its adoption, it has been very effective as a tool for directing and prioritizing funds for bicycle and pedestrian improvements across the city. To meet the growing demand for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, bikewalkokc was updated in 2024.

bikewalkokc added 9.53 miles of bike lanes and 15.69 miles of multi-use trails.

A lot of planning, coordination and analysis went into the development of bikewalkokc. Some of the challenges bicyclists faced included poor connectivity, lack of adequate bicycle parking, distance between residences and bicycle facilities, and poor road conditions. bikewalkokc began addressing these issues. City staff continues to look for funding opportunities to implement the plan.

Bicycle and trail analysis consisted of developing a model, Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress (BLOTS), to examine the bicycling conditions of the city streets. BLOTS takes into consideration several variables, such as number of lanes, roadway speed, present bicycle facility, and motor vehicle traffic volume.

bikewalkokc analysis determined that completing the Grand Boulevard Loop will result in a seamless beltline of trails around central Oklahoma City. This trail will enhance residents’ quality of life by connecting neighborhoods to other parts of the city and will make it easier for residents to choose an active lifestyle. The original 1910 plan for Grand Blvd was to serve as a beltline for the city and connect several regional parks. When the interstate highway system was constructed, much of the Grand Boulevard alignment was utilized. The proposed completion of the Grand Blvd Loop will restore the alignment to its original intent by connecting people to recreational opportunities. This project will serve about 66,000 residents, and connect 28 neighborhood parks, 7 regional parks, and 17 schools.

The crosstown connection was identified as another important component of the plan. The goal of these corridors is to connect people to a variety of daily and weekly destinations. Facility design along these corridors will be to the highest feasible safety level to ensure that riders of all types are comfortable using bicycling for transportation. Being able to choose to cycle to a park, school, shop, restaurant, coffee shop, church or regional recreation area will respond to the public input received from countless residents of Oklahoma City. One leg of this project runs from north to south, and the other runs east to west through the most dense neighborhoods in Oklahoma City. Additionally, these corridors pass through some of the most visited commercial districts.

Since its inception in 2018, bikewalkokc added over 176 miles of sidewalks.

The citywide comprehensive plan, planokc, describes a vision for Oklahoma City to be a walkable city with a strong pedestrian network that connects people to places they want to go. “Walkability” is a measure of how convenient, easy, and safe an area is for people to walk. A fully walkable area should allow a pedestrian to safely travel along both sides of a street, and safely cross back and forth between the two sides.

bikewalkokc analysis determined that challenges to pedestrians included inadequate pedestrian connectivity, the lack of safe crossings at major arterials, interstates, and natural features that act as barriers for pedestrians, gaps in the existing sidewalk system, including gaps in connectivity to public transportation.

Sidewalk connectivity in Oklahoma City is most prevalent in the city core and newer suburban areas, while second and third ring suburbs lack substantial sidewalk infrastructure.

Effective planning begins with analysis, and in a city as large as Oklahoma City, data analysis is crucial to creating priority areas. To better understand pedestrian conditions on every roadway segment in Oklahoma City (43,907 segments), several models were created that examine and score them all. The scores provide the existing conditions for pedestrians. Four types of citywide pedestrian analysis were performed: Pedestrian Level of Service (PLOS), Intersection Analysis, Pedestrian Demand Generation, and Demographics Analysis.

The PLOS model takes into account multiple variables to generate a score of walking comfort, safety, and accessibility along every roadway segment in Oklahoma City. The score is helpful to identify important roadways that are not currently suitable for safe, comfortable walking. Additionally, PLOS shows areas with strong pedestrian walkability that are separated by short stretches of unsafe or impassable segments. The following variables were included in the analysis: sidewalks, sidewalk buffer, number of driveways, number of lanes, and roadway speed.

An integral component of pedestrian mobility is the ability to cross streets safely. Intersection analysis generates a score to identify intersections in need of pedestrian infrastructure improvements. The results indicate the likely amount of investment needed to improve pedestrian infrastructure to a level that provides all of the necessary safety precautions that the City is capable of providing, and to take necessary steps to improve accessibility in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The intersection design score took into account the following variables: signals, crosswalks, ramps, collisions, speed, and number of lanes.

One of the largest barriers to walkability is the unavoidable interaction between pedestrians and motorists on city streets. More than 100 collisions between motorists and pedestrians occur each year in Oklahoma City. Ten or more of those collisions result in a pedestrian fatality. While many of these collisions are due to human error, a major contributor to this problem is the lack of adequate pedestrian infrastructure. Pedestrians are twice as likely to be killed on streets that lack sidewalks, and 94% of pedestrian fatalities occur on streets with speed limits of 30 mph or higher. In order to combat these preventable deaths in our community there must be sufficient pedestrian infrastructure, especially in areas that have already seen numerous tragic collisions.

The methodology for creating the pedestrian plan is based on the identification of key Pedestrian Priority Areas (PPAs) around the city, including downtown. Twenty PPAs were selected through a comprehensive analysis that took into account a variety of criteria, such as land use, public transit, infrastructure conditions, public safety concerns, demographics and more. The plan assesses the individual contexts and conditions within each of the PPAs and downtown, and makes recommendations for improvements to allow pedestrians to safely and efficiently access key destinations, such as public transit, schools, and parks.

The future for bicyclist and pedestrians in Oklahoma City looks promising! City staff continues to look for funding opportunities to implement bike and pedestrian projects identified in bikewalkokc. In addition, in 2023 the City received a Save Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant to develop its first Vision Zero Plan. The Plan aims to help Oklahoma City reach zero fatalities and eliminate deadly crashes on public roadways, while creating a safer and more equitable mobility system for all road users. The Vision Zero Plan is expected to be adopted in early 2025. Its adoption will open the door for the City to apply for additional federal funds to implement the Plan.