A Great City Needs More Than Just Smooth Roads

Lately we've heard some compelling statistics.

In the early 1960's, Tulsa was the 19th most densly-populated city in the country. We had over 260,000 people living within our 50 square miles.

In 1966, the city annexed over 100 additional square miles, which tripled our size overnight.

Since then, our story has been one of ever-increasing sprawl, ever-increasing road construction, ever-increasing Vehicle Miles Traveled, and ever-increasing infrastructure costs--for which the public must foot the bill.

From 1970 until today, while the number of lane miles we maintain has increased geometrically, our population has grown by a modest 12%.

Meanwhile, maintenance costs are skyrocketing. In the past 4 years, the costs of materials alone (asphalt, concrete, steel, lumber, diesel) has risen 46 percent.

So here we are.

TulsaNow strongly supports separating the funding for street widening projects from that dedicated to street repair and maintenance.

It's only logical that we should fix what we have, before we build more.

You've all heard that we maintain so many thousands of lane miles, that, put end to end, they would stretch from New York to Los Angeles and back to Tulsa with 500 miles more to spare. As Stephen Wright would say: "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it." The same goes for patching potholes and plowing snow on Tulsa's streets.

Widening the streets only exacerbates our problems.

Wider streets cost millions to build and maintain; they serve no other purpose than increasing auto traffic and auto speeds; and they make streets unappealing and unsafe for pedestrians and transit users.

Our challenge--and our goal--is to do much more than just patch the potholes.

Moving forward, Tulsa must do three things

• Reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles on the road
• Provide safe, reliable, efficient, and desirable public transportation
• Encourage pedestrian-friendly development that accommodates ALL modes of transportation

We need our leadership to be thinking long-term, and working towards a sustainable solution.

Part of that solution will be working together to create a new comprehensive plan. Unlike the current plan, we need one that will consider the needs of our citizens--not just the needs of our cars.

Changing demographics will demand a return to old-fashioned types of development: designed for walkability, rich with community and full of life. They will demand efficient and reliable transit, more mixed-use development, more urban density, and more housing opportunities downtown.

Smart infill projects like these will help us maximize the return on investment of our existing infrastructure. By doing so, we will increase our tax base, reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled, and reduce "wear and tear" on our streets.

More importantly, we will be helping Tulsa live up to its potential for greatness. We will be making it a better place to live, and attracting new generations of people to our city.

Fixing potholes is fine. But we can't stop there. It takes a lot more than asphalt to make a city great.

So what does Tulsa want to be? A nice place for cars? Or a great place for people? You decide.

Get involved.