Hi Joe,
I've read through some of the responses to your request for info. Ed Wagner makes the most sense. Much of the rest of what you're hearing is bogus. deinstein is inordinately negative, though I won't speculate as to why. Floyd welcomes a trail that was forced through an area that doesn't need one and isn't conducive to good design. Tim Hutzinger makes an unsubstantiated claim of danger. JDB claims stiff fines in California for touching a bike lane line with one's car tire when the California Vehicle Code actually requires motorists to merge into the bike lane before turning right. Then you were unfortunate enough to be greeted by Paul Tay (in disguise) who told you not to move here. I apologize for the
sorry welcome. Despite appearances, Tulsa does have an active bicycling advocacy contingent.
Question 1: Yes, the city's infrastructure lends itself to safe cycling. It is essential to practice vehicular (Effective) cycling and not behave as a pedestrian. I've met people from Oregon & Washington who don't know what to do if they don't have a trail or bike lane, so they ride on sidewalks. If you're a sidewalk rider, no, Tulsa is not a safe place. Of course, this is true most everywhere.
Question 2: I ride on main streets every single day (5-7000 miles per year) for all purposes--commuting/utility, recreation, exercise, race-training, etc... Cyclists in Oklahoma, as in most every other state, are expected to integrate with traffic, and this is very easy to do. Most roads are amenable to this (some two lane roads with heavy traffic are not as welcoming). However, Oklahoma cyclists typically have no training, and some will make unwarranted statements about how dangerous on-road cycling is. Spend time lurking and posting on national forums, and you'll notice that most Americans know very little about cycling, so our community is not unique in this respect.
Question 3: TAOBIKE, the Oklahoma Bicycling Coalition (okbike.org), Tulsa Bicycle Club, and Tulsa Wheelmen promote safe and responsible cycling. Representatives from all of these organizations have met with local and regional government. INCOG has a mediocre record of due diligence. Public Works in Tulsa has not shown itself very knowledgeable about cycling. Its primary emphasis has been on getting big government grants to build trails, sometimes forcing the trails through areas that don't work. At a million dollars per mile, by golly, they're going to make that trail happen.
Several of the TAOBIKE members sitting on the INCOG subcommittee vociferously encouraged on-street linkages because people were being encouraged to drive their cars to trailheads instead of bicycling to them. Without these voices, Tulsa would have no on-street routes. City of Tulsa engineers did not grasp the idea that cyclists need access to important destinations, not just out and back or circular trails. The end result was okay, though we can dispute whether or not cyclists need to be told they can ride on neighborhood streets. The same engineers also had to be actively educated about the differences between cyclists and pedestrians because they tend to group the two together. Explore all the trails, but I would encourage using only the RiverTrails (because it is continuous and minimizes cross-traffic). The other trails (especially the most recent additions, such as the embarrassing monstrosity of a super-sidewalk built on North Peoria) are not built to AASHTO Guidelines and have awkward intersections with major streets. The Creek Trail is the second most embarrassing example of such improvised design.
Some bicycling advocates in Oklahoma suffer from coastal envy. Austin, Portland, San Francisco, LA, Chicago, and New York have bike lanes. It doesn't matter that bike lanes create problems--these Okie-bikers want to be more cosmopolitan. But if we can get past the mindless emulation of design models that are fundamentally flawed, we can at least not make things worse, and maybe even make them better.
... check out the bike lane contrarian page for more details (tomrevay.tripod.com/projects/MassBike/BikeLanes/).
Also, a pros and cons page on facilities that does a fair job of affecting objectivity:
http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/bikelanes.htmlFor a broader view of bicycling friendliness, try
http://www.cyclingadvocacy.com/index.php?termid=178But I would recommend Fred Oswald's crankmail site as one of the best:
http://crankmail.com/fredoswald/bike-res.htmlHope this doesn't sound too argumentative, but other than Ed, most of these posters provided pretty unreliable info. Best wishes for a safe move. Ride long and prosper,
Brian Potter
League Certified Instructor #1064
quote:
Originally posted by ChicagoJoe
Greetings. My wife and I are seriously considering a move from Chicago to Tulsa, and I've been reading up on the city's online buzz, trying to get a feel for the city. One part of life that I haven't heard much about is cycling within the city. Here's what I'd like to know:
a. Do you feel that the city's infrastructure lends itself to safe cycling?
b. Do you or does anyone you know bike to/from work or school?
c. Is there any community group that promotes cycling or works with the city planners to do so?
Thanks! I hope someone can enlighten me!