Walking events and walking issues

[Ed W]

In my exalted capacity as the "Alternative Transportation Examiner" (Hey!  It says so on the business cards!) I've mostly written about bicycling.  I need to branch out into other transportation modes, not cars or trucks, but walking, scooters, electric vehicles, and even public transportation.  I've sent queries out to various individuals and groups listed in the TCCL database as having walking events.  I'm thinking about compiling a calendar of regional walking events.

But I also need to learn about issues that effect pedestrians.  F'rinstance - is Tulsa a walkable city?  There are a few events that involve walking, like a photo walk, an art gallery walk, and I think there was an Art Deco walk at one time.  I need that kind of information, and I need to know about sidewalks, bridges, and traffic signals that influence where and how people can walk.

The Examiner is a content monster, so I'm trying to find ways to feed it.  It's an international site that wants to have an intense focus on local issues, so any helpful advice, information, or insight is welcome.

[OurTulsa]

Wow. Where to start.  Walking in Tulsa for practical purposes (off dedicated trails) is hazardous.  And that's from my Mid-town/downtown perspective.  Outside of midtown/downtown - forget about it.  Outside of downtown even our 'urban' areas in Cherry St. and Brookside are not exactly pleasant walks.

The reasons are numerous:  
Poor sidewalk condition if they're there.  
Way too many conflicts/potential conflicts with vehicular traffic.  Sidewalks too close to 40mph driving surface.  Crosswalks non-existent or poorly identified - most drivers pull over them anyway.  Crossing distances at intersections are very far.  
Walking environment, even if it wasn't threatening, is incredibly non-engaging.  
It's boring in this city to walk.  Buildings are pushed back and lack windows.  To walk in between a busy street and a parking lot is harsh.  
Our land uses don't exactly support walking either.  Since most of us live on our own little plots of paradise requiring .3 acres each or our condo/apt. complexes are surrounded by rolling berms of serenity and our businesses require gobs of parking we are spread thin and we don't mix uses very well there aren't many 'quick walks' in Tulsa.

I try to walk several times a week in and around my hood - which is comparatively urban for Tulsa and I find conflict very often.  I walk around cracked/broken/missing sidewalks, along dead walls, through parking lots, across and 3 ft. beside 4 lane streets where cars are moving at 35 and 40 mph.  I can't help but think often that if one driver of the 50 cars zooming by loses concentration I'm peace-out.  What's most disturbing is that day or night I very seldom walk past another pedestrian.

That said, we are starting to put sidewalks in along major streets.  Granted they put a walker literally right beside zooming traffic with nothing in between at least we've recognized them as a necessary utility.  Our Planning Commission seems like they are requiring them with consistency on new projects.  And PlaniTulsa pays much attention to a better urban and walkable environment. It's a start towards a better walking environment.

[TheTed]

Wow. Where to start.  Walking in Tulsa for practical purposes (off dedicated trails) is hazardous.  And that's from my Mid-town/downtown perspective.  Outside of midtown/downtown - forget about it.  Outside of downtown even our 'urban' areas in Cherry St. and Brookside are not exactly pleasant walks.

The reasons are numerous:  
Poor sidewalk condition if they're there.  
Way too many conflicts/potential conflicts with vehicular traffic.  Sidewalks too close to 40mph driving surface.  Crosswalks non-existent or poorly identified - most drivers pull over them anyway.  Crossing distances at intersections are very far.  
Walking environment, even if it wasn't threatening, is incredibly non-engaging.  
It's boring in this city to walk.  Buildings are pushed back and lack windows.  To walk in between a busy street and a parking lot is harsh.  
Our land uses don't exactly support walking either.  Since most of us live on our own little plots of paradise requiring .3 acres each or our condo/apt. complexes are surrounded by rolling berms of serenity and our businesses require gobs of parking we are spread thin and we don't mix uses very well there aren't many 'quick walks' in Tulsa.

I try to walk several times a week in and around my hood - which is comparatively urban for Tulsa and I find conflict very often.  I walk around cracked/broken/missing sidewalks, along dead walls, through parking lots, across and 3 ft. beside 4 lane streets where cars are moving at 35 and 40 mph.  I can't help but think often that if one driver of the 50 cars zooming by loses concentration I'm peace-out.  What's most disturbing is that day or night I very seldom walk past another pedestrian.

That said, we are starting to put sidewalks in along major streets.  Granted they put a walker literally right beside zooming traffic with nothing in between at least we've recognized them as a necessary utility.  Our Planning Commission seems like they are requiring them with consistency on new projects.  And PlaniTulsa pays much attention to a better urban and walkable environment. It's a start towards a better walking environment.

This sums it up nicely.

A couple of points to add. A major danger I see is drivers thinking their right turn on red trumps your walk signal. The worst spot is trying to get into the Riverparks from Denver and Riverside. People just come flying around that corner while you have a walk signal, not even slowing for their right on red.

Another issue, because of the sidewalks being right next to the roads in many cases, there are many, many light poles, telephone poles and no parking signs in the sidewalks. I looked out my window one day and saw an elderly woman pushing a small cart forced into the street because there was a telephone pole in her way. Even when no parking signs are removed, they usually leave the stump, a several-inch high piece of metal sticking out of the sidewalk.

After some reading on the subject, I've recently realized how hellish it would be to attempt to get around Tulsa as a handicapped person.

Curb cuts missing all over the place. Poles in the middle of the sidewalk that don't leave enough room for a wheelchair to go around. Sidewalks that have a very steep sideways slope as part of a driveway. Sidewalks that are so damaged they look like they were bombed.