Session 4, May 11
by Dean Schirf
Arrived a little early to sign in along with approximately 40 other attendees in attending the fourth of five meetings of Let's Talk Transit in discussing the future of transit in downtown Oklahoma City.

The meeting was held in the Civic Center Hall of Mirrors and was filled with over a dozen easels showing various routes that were proposed by working groups from earlier meetings.....one set had all the north/south routes and the other had the east/west routes.....all routes were done in a very nice finished style and those responsible are to be commended in the format in which they were displayed. Many of the proposed routes had similarities but no two were identical. When we reached the tables to start the meeting there were three conceptual alignment maps compiled from all the maps mentioned above. Jennifer Eve, the moderator, welcomed everyone and introduced Mike McAnelly, the consultant from JACOBS Engineering Group Inc., who gave a review of earlier meetings and again defined the Modern Streetcar, the process used by the working groups in the past meetings to determine where the routes would be established inclusive of determining the circulation and alignments to best serve those working in the area, those living in the area and those visitors attending conventions and the like. Mike then stated the purpose for this evening's meeting would center on comments and discussions, using an open mic, to further define/refine the three streetcar routes that were placed on our tables for discussion. Mike also stated route selections take in so many variables and elements in establishing routes such as physical constraints like vertical clearance, sharing of lane miles with the vehicular traffic using the same streets as well as foot traffic and the costs in building the routes that would require bridges over/under other lanes of traffic, expressways and established railroad tracks....in a number of instances these costs can quickly expend the dollars made available by Oklahoma City voters to bring the downtown transit link to reality.

The meeting was then opened up to those attending to come to the open mic in the front of room and to give their respective comments on the three conceptual maps. Most of those that went to the mic favored the conceptual alignment north/south-east/west option 1 which was the longest route at 5.89 miles. A number of those (even those that favored option 1 had additional recommendations that they felt would be better if incorporated into the route)....this was fine as the consultant was looking for any and all comments even if they differed to some degree with any of the options as this was still a open process searching for the best possible route(s) that would become the end product and recommendation of the Lets Talk Transit effort.

I also felt that option 1 was the best option presented to date.....it has a east/west alignment complementing the north/south link which provides for a greater service area and took into account allowing access to the newly/and soon to be built housing areas along the eastern boundaries on the downtown area.....it also crosses the I-235 Centennial Expressway in providing an entrance to the burgeoning science research and health center area(s). I also like the southern east/west line being incorporated into the new boulevard knowing full well this can be problematic given the construction timetable in that there is not a single dime targeted presently for the construction of the downtown boulevard, which would not start until the elevated part of the I-40 Crosstown Expressway is leveled at the end of 2012....this may conflict with the timely completion of the downtown transit system and should that be the case the alignment along Reno should then come into play.

One additional comment on option 1 deals with Hudson and Robinson as the north/south streets.....I feel we would be better served if there was more distance separating these streets.....look at Broadway for the north route as it has a more visible dynamic appearance and has been going through a wonderful transition over the last dozen or so years to the point it is taking on its own identity thus stimulating even further development in the future.

One final thought and that deals with being ever mindful of the costs of operating and maintaining the route that is finally approved. There is not one cent of funding approved by the voters in running this system once it is built. The funds approved by the voters are dedicated only to the construction of a starter rail transit system being built along with a transit hub. Several of those in attendance expressed the routes should be further extended to serve the OU Health Center and even beyond to the State Capitol Complex/Oklahoma History Center. The consultant has made it very clear that the max mileage of the route selected, given the dollars that voters have allocated for its construction, should not exceed 6 miles. We must remember this is starter system that when opened to the public will have the best possible chance of succeeding in its uses by serving businesses and their employees, residents and visitors....in a very real way we are planting a seed in newly plowed ground in putting the rails in the best possible location that will give us the greatest return on our investment.....only in this way can we be given the best opportunity in going forward to build additional links that can radiate in the future to the Health Center, the State Capitol and eventually to our suburban neighbors in Edmond, Moore, Norman and the Mid/Del/Tinker areas.

In total the meeting served a useful purpose in further allowing comment/discussion in bringing about a downtown circulator system that will afford maximum connectivity along its route. The meeting was structured to allow open discussion and viewpoints to be expressed....a number of good questions/comments were made throughout the evening and even allowed for the consultant to address questions/ideas in a direct fashion which I felt brought about a greater understanding of what it was that we were trying to accomplish.

These are exciting times for Oklahoma City and Central Oklahoma.....so many good things are happening that is propelling our great city forward like the new Devon Tower Headquarter Complex on Sheridan, the complete appearance makeup and flow of traffic of our downtown streets (Project 180), the ever growing Bricktown footprint along with that happening along Broadway, new convention facilities, completion of the $600 million I-40 Crosstown Realignment and downtown Boulevard contraction following, Core to Shore and the new facilities along the Oklahoma River, the new OCU Law Center on West Main and last but not least is the new Transit Rail Link that will play a major role in bringing all these facilities together in making Oklahoma City a better place to live, work, play and visit.