Several downtown streets become two way July 12th

Just a reminder folks, Saturday several downtown streets become two way streets.



On Saturday, July 12, five downtown roads will be converted from one-way to two-way streets. The change is geared to boost safety, improve traffic flow and provide easier access to downtown businesses.

Downtown streets to be converted to two-way include:

North Hudson Ave. from NW 6th St. to NW 13th St.
North Harvey Ave. from NW 6th St. to NW 13th St.
North Robinson Ave. from NW 6th St. to NW 13th St.

NW 5th St. from North Western Ave. to North Walker Ave.

NW 6th St. from North Western Ave. to North Oklahoma Ave.
View Map (PDF)

City of Oklahoma City | News

What I think is dumb about this idea is that there will still be a small section of robinson between 13th and 16th that will still be one way, sandwiched between 2-way sections...doh!

Oh it's soooo much better. Now, instead of being 1-way throughout, the 2-way portions terminate at random points. This will be much less confusing.

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I agree. I think it's dumb and a costly mistake. I won't be surprised if in a few years it gets converted back to how it was. I've talked to several urban planners and they've told me the nightmares this could create. They explained why city planners planned downtowns with one way streets alternating every street. Basically, just expect more backed up traffic on these streets that are becoming two way. Less lanes of traffic to keep the flow going, especially during large events, say NBA games.

Yuch.

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Doug
http://www.dougloudenback.com/downtownOKC.htm
http://www.dougloudenback.com/oklahomacity.htm
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Arg. I have not been looking forward to this at all. I don't see why or how it is so hard for people to find things downtown...and ohmygosh, if you miss it, you have to circle the block! How terrible! Now you're just going to have a bunch more confused people.

Great idea, boneheads. Looks like I'll stick to walking around downtown for the time being.

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Still corrupting young minds

I was driving around downtown tonight and tried out one of the new 2-way streets a couple of days early. That is until I ran into a cone and had to drive a little left of center. It was just one block and my husband made me do it. (I'm sure a cop would buy that)
Anyway, for all the talk this has been getting for the last year, i was sorely disappointed.

All downtown streets should convert to 2 way streets. When people started moving to suburbia in the 70s the downtown streets were converted to one way to help get people out of downtown faster. The high speed traffic succeeded in making downtown an unfriendly place for pedestrians. Speed limits increased and first floor retail sales took a dive. The unused parking spaces were converted to travel lanes which made it worse for pedestrians.

People on this board wonder why they don’t see many people on downtown streets. It is because downtown OKC is a dangerous and inhospitable place for pedestrians. Return all downtown streets to two-way and bring back on-street angled parking and you will see retail return to downtown streets.

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With 1 way streets, I only have to worry about 1 direction of traffic as a pedestrian. I like that a lot better.

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Cross at a crosswalk.


I am no tlooking forward to this either at all, but I'm not so sure it's going to be as bad as some seem to think.

It will be on NBA game nights, major concerts and conventions, etc. It's going to create much more massive backups when trying to get on/off highway, especially once they close the Robinson exit in a few months. People will have to drive down past Western to get on I-40 westbound. That exit down there by the McDonalds on Western is pitiful and ugly to say the least. Nice impression of our "renaissance". I can't believe (actually unfortunately I can) that our city doesn't have the foresight to beautify that Western/I-40 exit years ago, let alone that it will be the gateway in/out of downtown for about 6-9 months once Robinson exit closes later this year.

Yeah, I don't get this at all. Every major city with heavy pedestrian traffic is more or less a series of one way streets. I expect one-ways in downtown areas, actually. usually the blocks are tighter and now you'll just have more back up with people having to cross traffic to make left turns.

If they want it more pedestrian friendly, they need to time all lights for pedestrian crossing every cycle. You shouldn't have to push a button to wait for a light timed for a pedestrian crossing downtown or in bricktown. This would help eliminate the "runners" and give all walkers a chance to cross even after waiting for late traffic to clear the intersection, which you're going to have a lot of now, because everyone who will be yielding to traffic to turn left will be going when the light changes.

I just don't who's idea this was or what the real motivation is actually. This sounds very much like it was the creation of some disgruntled driver who can't handle driving around the block than the idea of any kind of experienced city planner.

well said BDP. A mistake IMO. When I was in NYC last year, they sure didn't complain about the one way streets. And let me guarantee you, the traffic was driving MUCH faster than in downtown OKC. I got hit by a car when I had the right of way crossing in the crosswalk. The car didn't seem to care and kept driving.

I like the one way streets.

Only stupid people seem to have problems with them.

But if careful analysis indicates that traffic as a whole will move better with a specific street being two way as opposed to one way, that is ok. I doubt any such analysis was done, but I could wrong.

This will create problems for multiple reasons in my opinion.

1) we assume this will switch from 4 lane 1-way street to a 2 lane each way 2 way street...however, due to all the underground cabling, many of our streets are constantly torn up...so we are talking 1 lane each way many times?

2) I already have several areas that gripe me because they have parallel parking spots right in front of intersections, effectively changing a 2 lane intersection to a 1 lane bottleneck with people wanting to turn left and go straight from the same lane (4th & Broadway going east is terrible about this). I just foresee this getting worse.

3) Of course now we have poor people who will get trapped at all the "dead ends" when they go from 2 way to 1 way...

fun fun fun.

I was recently driving thru downtown a few times and noticed the constructions. It seem to me that the road is only wide enough for two lanes, one lane each direction.

Anyone know if it will be two lanes each directions? What about parking along the side of the road?

How will they get the extra space for left-turn at stop light?