Press Release
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
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The City of OKLAHOMA CITY |
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Contact: Kristy Potter
297-3903
City Trails Website Now Online
Happy trails to you, until we meet online. The City of Oklahoma City has good news for the thousands of bicyclists, rollerbladers, skateboarders, runners and walkers living throughout the city. By logging online at www.okc.gov/trails, citizens can get up-to-date information and ask questions about the Oklahoma City Trails Master Plan.
The website features interactive maps highlighting the trails, a brief description of each trail currently funded under the plan, trail etiquette, mountain biking trails and a listing of other trails located in the Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department. Visitors to the site can also download the 176-page Oklahoma City Trails Master Plan.
Trails Master Plan Advisory Committee President Hal McKnight said, “Citizens have expressed an enormous amount of interest in seeing Oklahoma City develop a quality trails system. We created the website to be a reference tool for trail users and to keep them updated on progress with the plan. I think they will be pleased with what they see.”
Trails outlined in the plan that have already been completed include Lake Hefner Trails, South Grand Trail, Brock Creek Trail and Bricktown Trail.
Five of the trails outlined in the Master Plan are currently under design or are contracted by the City for construction. These trails include the North Canadian Central Greenway Trail, Katy Trail, Lake Overholser East Trail, Lake Hefner-Overholser Trail and Lightning Creek Trail.
Trails awaiting funding are the Tinker-Draper Trail, Earlywine Trail, North Grand Boulevard Trail, 104th Street Trail, North Canadian West Greenway Trail, Deep Fork Greenway Trail, Portland Avenue Trail, Broadway Extension Trail, I-40 Crosstown Corridor Trail, 19th Street Link Trail, Lake Overholser West Trail, Lincoln-Robinson Link, Meridian Avenue Link, Lake Draper Trail, Airport Trail, West I-44 Trail, Turnpike Trail, North Canadian East Greenway Trail, Deep Fork-Lake Arcadia Greenway Trail, and South Canadian Trail.
In 1996, Mayor Ron
Norick commissioned a Trails Steering Committee to work with LandPlan
Consultants, Inc. Together they created a master plan for the development of a
system of bicycle and pedestrian trails through Oklahoma City. The plan
identifies 28 corridors throughout the city that should be developed in the
next 25 years.
A series of public workshops were held in 1996 and 1997 to get citizen input and define routing needs within the community. In all, the City hopes to build more than 200 miles of trails through the community as funding becomes available. Some of the trails have already been funded through the 2000 Bond Issue, the MAPS initiative and private partnerships. The development of un-funded trails will depend on the passage of future General Obligation Bond Issues, grants and public-private partnerships.
Current members of the Trails Master Plan Advisory Committee include: Hal McKnight, Chairman, representing the Oklahoma Bicycle Society; Robert S. Thorpe, at large; Suzie Bostick, representing the Oklahoma City Running Club; Dick Coyle, at large; C.B. Pete Holcombe, at large; Bill Wylie, at large; Marty Christensen, representing the Oklahoma City Park Board; Larry McAtee, Ward 3 City Council Member and Guy Liebmann, Ward 8 City Council Member.
The Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation Department and Oklahoma City Planning Department are overseeing implementation of the Trails Master Plan.
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