Now lets turn Boulder Ave into a two way street like Boston Ave.
That's in the works... I posted this article to my Facebook the other day and pointed out that while Sager is on a self-promotion media tour calling himself the driving force behind the Blue Dome, Elliott Nelson is out doing real good, working with the city on changing one-way streets to two-way.
http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/local_news/downtown-streets-transforming-from-one-way-to-two-wayA handful of roads in Downtown Tulsa are set to transform from one-way to two-way streets. This action comes after thirty blocks are identified as in-need of conversion.
Main Street from 6th to 10th will soon be accessible two ways. This is funded by two separate groups, with one common goal, to make it less confusing for drivers.
"We built our streets to get people out. Two way streets help keep people in," says Elliot Nelson. To help keep people in downtown and at one of his seven businesses, Nelson is pushing for traffic to flow two ways on Main. Even if it's twelve blocks away from his closest pub.
Nelson says, "We all took a chance on our urban core. It's important not only for me as a business owner, but for those people as business owners, for the city as a whole. This is our economic driver, where most of the good high paying jobs are."
$115,000 will convert Main Street at 8th and 9th. The transformation is paid for by two different groups.
The funding comes from the Downtown Coordinating Council and non-allocated assessment money. Main at 6th and 7th Streets are funded by Vision 2025. "Two-waying the streets gives better access, bottom line. A retailer or developer isn't willing to put money into downtown if they do not have good access," says Mark Brown, director of traffic for the city.
Each intersection is estimated to cost $35,000 to $40,000. That cost is doubled if crews have to replace the electrical hardware at each intersection, which is common downtown.
"You'll have to convert the stripping over from 10th to 9th. As well as the signs for two-way traffic. I'm not including parking meters on this project," Brown says.
Both projects are set to be complete by fall of 2012.
The next streets and avenues officials want to transform are 4th, 5th, Cheyenne, and Boulder. However, these projects are not yet funded, just proposed.
