From the PLANiTULSA "Our Vision" chapter on Transportation:
http://www.planitulsa.org/vision/planchapters/transTransportation
Tulsans will have a wide variety of transportation choices for getting around town. Those who live in neighborhoods near the city’s major boulevards will be able to drive, bike, or catch a quick and reliable bus or streetcar to just about anywhere. The network of transit options, large arterials, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods and employment centers will result in one of the safest, most efficient transportation systems in the country. Commuters will spend half as much time delayed in traffic as they did in 2009, with most trips to work being as short as 10 minutes.
Draft Transportation Map
Network Connectivity
Tulsa’s new streets will be designed to reinforce connectivity within and throughout the city.
Connected streets decrease traffic on adjacent arterials, shorten distances, and improve conditions for walking and biking. Disconnected streets may enhance privacy and discourage through traffic, but they also hinder walking and biking, and create longer car trips.
Tulsa’s new street systems will use connectivity and traffic calming to get the best of both worlds—quiet neighborhood streets with good access and connectivity.
Walking and Biking
Many neighborhoods, which today are dangerous places for all pedestrians, will be improved with safer sidewalks, better-designed intersections, and other features that alert drivers to pedestrians.
The city will continue to develop and expand its network of paths and trails. Bikes will be a popular way to get around town when the weather is nice.
Bicyclists may make up a significant percentage of travel, especially for the short one- to two-mile trips.
Transit
Downtown, nearby university districts, new centers, and the city’s main streets and multi-modal arterials will be some of the most intensively walked parts of the city.
They will also be the most transit-rich, with frequent bus, streetcar, and rail transit service within a couple blocks of most homes and businesses.
Commuters from Southeast Tulsa and Broken Arrow will have quick and easy access to downtown on a commuter rail line.
Initially, Tulsa will invest in two or three key corridors with frequent bus service to downtown from North and East Tulsa. Over time, key housing and employment developments will add riders, and enhancements will spread throughout the city.
Highways and Freight
Tulsa’s investments in a variety of in-town transportation options will help prevent the region’s highways from becoming congested as the city grows.
These highways will serve regional travelers and freight trucks, which should not have to compete with local commuters.
Freight travel and distribution will be improved through strategic investments to disentangle freight and local traffic.
Freight routes, which historically were routed through downtown, will be shifted to the the Gilcrease Expressway Extension.
This will alleviate help prevent congestion and deliver goods to a major industrial and warehouse area just east of Tulsa International Airport.
Smart Parking
The city’s approach to parking will make optimal use of the land along main streets, downtown, and in new centers to better support pedestrian-friendly places.
New centers, downtown and other gathering places will be served by parking districts, which provide just the right amount of parking capacity.
Offices usually do not need parking spaces in the evenings, when restaurants and residences do, so these uses can share the same spaces over the course of the day.
New development will no longer be required to provide large amounts of on-site parking for the one or two days a year it is used, but will be able to use public spaces already on the street and public lots or garages that serve many businesses.
This will not preclude builders from including additional parking on-site, but lower minimums will allow the marketplace to determine how much parking is needed.
In addition to on-street parking, shared lots in centers and main streets can be located behind buildings
How We Get There
Tulsa is well positioned to forge this transportation vision. The city’s street grid, highways and rail lines provide an excellent base on which to build a future with more options for getting around town. Designing new transportation infrastructure in concert with thoughtful land-use decisions will create a sustainable transportation system for future generations.
The process will begin modestly, by acknowledging that transportation defines communities. In the same way that roadways spur development today, transit and livable streets will fuel the new economy which will focus on entrepreneurialism, retaining younger people and creating an urban experience.
Tulsa will implement this new vision and create sustainable communities by:
Redesigning key streets into main streets and corridors with many transportation options.
Revolutionizing freight commerce by building a state-of-the-art facility that combines rail, truck, barge and air cargo.
Using new technology that helps traffic signals better manage transit and cars.
Implementing real-time travel information systems that alert drivers and transit riders to congestion or delays.
Redesigning streets so they support options in addition to cars, while also being context sensitive to neighborhoods, businesses and the environment.
Forging funding partnerships that reward the private sector for building sustainable projects that complement walking, biking and transit.
Context Sensitive Solutions
Context Sensitive Solutions (CSS) is a planning process by which transportation projects are designed to serve all users and meet the needs of the community and environment through which they pass. Traditionally streets have been designed to have the same layout throughout their length. CSS adapts the lanes, parking and sidewalks to meet the needs of the surrounding area, while accommodating the traffic flow.
One Size Does Not Fit All: Streets should respond to the land use around them