May
8
The Bicycle Friendly Community award makes Tulsa the first community in Oklahoma to be recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community.
Twice per year the League designates communities as bicycle friendly. INCOG, the Tulsa area’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, was the agency responsible for applying for recognition at the request of Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor.
“Tulsa is a great place for biking, with its gentle terrain alternating with challenging hills," said Mayor Kathy Taylor. "Our biking community has worked diligently to achieve this designation and this recognition. The City's support for biking and walking or running is seen in our achievements on the trails - from our extensive citywide bike trail system that allows you to bike around town safely, to our bike lanes and support of bicycling events like Tulsa Tough, hosted in Tulsa. This designation is exciting and puts Tulsa on the national biking map.”
The designation is based on Tulsa’s commitment to engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, and evaluation of bicycle facilities in the city. The League specifically lauded Tulsa’s three bicycle sharing programs. The River Parks bicycle sharing program, “Tulsa Townies,” allows users to check out a pink bicycle to use for up to 24 hours free of charge. The bike may then be returned to any bicycle rack in the system.
The University of Tulsa has a bicycle sharing program for students that provides free yellow bicycles and helmets for students. The program is intended to encourage students to ride their bicycles rather than drive when they only live a short distance from campus.
Finally, Tulsa Transit has implemented a free bike-sharing program at the Denver Avenue Station in Downtown Tulsa. The program, “Rack-n-Roll,” is intended to allow bus riders to increase their mobility around downtown by using a bicycle checked out from the bus station.
James Wagner, INCOG’s transportation planner for bicycle and pedestrian facilities, said, “This is a big honor for Tulsa. We now need to take this momentum and continue to build facilities that allow people to use the bicycles not only for recreation, but also for commuting. Better facilities mean more people feel comfortable riding a bicycle which can have a positive impact on our air quality and on physical fitness.”
“Tulsa has one of the best recreational trail systems in the country,” Taylor added. “I want to remind Tulsa bikers that they can log their bicycling mileage daily on the Tulsa Million Miles website and help us reach our million mile goal.” The Tulsa Million Miles initiative encourages Tulsa citizens to run, walk, bike, or swim and log their activity on the Mayor’s Million Miles website, www.tulsamillionmiles.com. The goal is for Tulsans to collectively cover one million miles.
In addition to the highly used River Parks trails, trail facilities have continued to be expanded parallel to the Creek turnpike in south Tulsa. Cyclists can start at Northeastern State University in Broken Arrow and ride to River City Park in Sand Springs exclusively on trails, a distance of over 30 miles. Another project funded with Tulsa County Vision 2025 funds is the recently completed Osage Prairie Trail, which begins at OSU-Tulsa and terminates near downtown Skiatook, a distance of 14 miles. Finally, the River Parks Authority is undertaking a $15.3 million project to separate pedestrian and bicycle trails along 14 miles of River Parks trails. This project was made possible by a $12.4 million donation from the George Kaiser Family Foundation. A guide to all trails in the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, with maps and pictures, can be found on INCOG’s website at www.incog.org/transportation/trailguide.htm.
The award includes special signage that will recognize Tulsa as a Bicycle Friendly Community. The designation will be recognized in conjunction with the region’s annual Bike to Work Day, a kick-off event for the 2009 Bike to Work season, on May 15 from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on the Williams Green in Downtown Tulsa. You may register for the event at www.green-traveler.org
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