New plans outlined for Downtown bike trail following Classen ban

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Following the City Council decision effectively banning any new dedicated bicycle lanes on Classen Boulevard, City Planning officials last week presented an update with new plans alongside community feedback.

On December 30^th, City Council voted 7-2 to prevent any further development of bike lanes on Classen that would reduce lanes for car traffic, canceling longstanding plans to implement new dedicated lanes for cyclists on the thoroughfare from Sheridan Ave. to NW 10^th Street, as Free Press reported:

City Council ‘battle’ ends with ban on new Classen bike lanes

That vote followed pushback from a passionate crowd of cycling advocates in attendance and contentious discussion among councilors, with stipulations made that Planning officials be required to hold community meetings to develop new alternatives to the planned lanes and that those new plans be promptly presented to City Council.

That presentation was realized at the February 24^th meeting, with Planning Director Geoff Butler and Brandon Bundy of Public Works offering an overview of suggestions and comments collected during a community feedback session held earlier in the month at the Downtown library.

“We had a good turnout and we had a lot of good discussion,” Butler told the council about the community meeting that took place February 10^th. “These are options that could apply or be investigated for Classen, but other bike lanes in the city as well that we’re designing and looking to implement.”

Upgraded safety suggestions

In lieu of dedicated and protected bike lanes, residents offered a range of suggestions for how to increase cycling and pedestrian safety across the whole of Classen, including changes to crosswalk and intersection safety, reduced or protected crossings, and even lowered and closely monitored speed limits.

Some of the suggestions highlighted by Butler involved implementing a leading pedestrian interval (or LPI,) a brief pause between pedestrian “walk” signs activating and traffic lights changing to green, allowing pedestrians and cyclists to enter the crosswalk before traffic starts to move, which can increase visibility and awareness from drivers.

Another suggestion that Butler said his department is taking into consideration is to include a “no right on red” treatment on Classen, preventing drivers from turning as quickly or as haphazardly at intersections.

Some residents wanted to see speed feedback signs erected on Classen to make drivers more aware of their speed, and some even want to see speed limits reduced on Classen to as low as 25 to 35 mph, a suggestion that Butler said is being taken into consideration.

“The speed limit is something that, no matter what the street is in Oklahoma City, that’s something that can be studied periodically” Butler told the council, “because vehicles change, behaviors change.”

Off-street bike trail

The biggest new addition to the Classen Street Enhancement plan is the inclusion of an off-street, multi-use biking and walking trail along the west side of Classen, running from NW 6^th Street to NW 10^th.

“This is basically to facilitate those that are coming down to 10th Street down Classen and then to connect to 6^th Street,” Bundy said. “6^th Street is a primary connection east-west and we wanted to get them down to that area. The path will be as wide as we can make it and we felt like the west side was the most available for right-of-way.”

But as the original – now nixed – bike lane plans would have connected 10^th Street all the way to Sheridan, some residents in the feedback session said they wanted this new trail extended before the plans are finalized.

“There was talk about potentially extending that further north and south,” Butler said.

Clearer crossings

As cyclists will likely be relying more heavily on bike lanes on Western Ave to the west of Classen and Shartel Ave to the east, new biking and pedestrian crossings need to be designated and clearly highlighted for east-west streets intersecting Classen.

For that, planners intend to use bright green paint to ensure visibility to drivers.

“The green boxes will take a cyclist basically across Classen,” Bundy said, “and it’ll bring awareness to those bikes.”

‘Learning as we go’

Following the presentation, Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper, himself an outspoken cycling advocate, raised concerns about the need for ongoing maintenance on existing biking infrastructure further north on Classen and proposed some new planning to better tie those existing bike lanes into the new trail plans.

He and Ward 8 councilor Mark Stonecipher agreed that Planning should study the feasibility of all of the suggestions submitted by residents and report back on the potential to include them within the ongoing street enhancements.

Bundy agreed that even the city’s existing biking infrastructure could benefit from some closer analysis to see how elements are being utilized, accommodated, and even damaged over time.

“We’re learning as we go with every project, really,” he said. “But bike lanes are relatively new compared to other city infrastructure.”

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