The expert studying how pedestrian-friendly downtown Tulsa is will also make some traffic recommendations, and that could mean more congestion within the IDL.
"When I talk about congestion for vehicles, it's going to be increased. That's just the plan," said City Engineer Paul Zachary. "But the whole idea is, is to slow the traffic down, and that, in turn, results in a safer pedestrian environment as well as a bicycle environment."
Recommendations from walkability expert Jeff Speck will make downtown into a lab. The city can paint lines to see if things like making some one-way streets into two-way streets or adding bicycle lanes work before making permanent alterations.
"Before we jump in and commit, start moving curbs — which, when you start moving curbs, you're moving stormwater, you're moving utilities, you're moving — we can paint some of these things and get the effect, see how it works," Zachary said. "And if it works, fantastic. When we fund in the future, we can make those improvements."
Nothing will happen immediately.
"We don't have any reports yet," Zachary said. "He's doing his data collection, and we ought to get some feedback on some things here, hopefully this year, but our first main report is going to be after the first of the year."
Speck has several city engineering and traffic reports at his disposal to make traffic recommendations. Any changes will start in downtown’s core and move outward as appropriate.
