© 2024 Public Radio Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
(918) 631-2577

A listener-supported service of The University of Tulsa
classical 88.7 | public radio 89.5
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Rapid Bus Supporters Have High Hopes for New Tulsa Zoning Code

Tulsa Transit

The City of Tulsa’s new zoning code is officially in effect, and the Transportation Advisory Board is grateful.

Board member Jamie Jamieson said it came in the nick of time.

"Because it is conducive to increasing our density as a city, our accessibility with an aging population, and a number of other things — its affordability, I mean, its fiscal viability," Jamieson said.

The Transportation Advisory Board heard in its latest meeting how the zoning code update will affect plans for a bus rapid transit route on Peoria Avenue.

City Planner Theron Warlick said they trust the advisory board and Tulsa Transit to make the buses run.

"We just want to make sure the land uses and the housing, the commercial developments and the jobs around this bus line all complement what we're trying to do with the BRT," Warlick said.

Tulsa Transit has proposed running a rapid bus on Peoria from 38th Street North to 81st and Lewis. The new zoning code has provisions that should help create a sustainable corridor for it, right down to those overlooked details.

For example, Warlick said people should take a look at how many driveways there are along the proposed route.

"Every point of access creates the potential for turning conflicts, traffic accidents," Warlick said. "It slows things down."

The rapid bus route could start running in 2020.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.