Tulsa World: Private firm may plan BA street growth

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Private firm may plan BA street growth

A worker paves Kenosha (71st) Street in Broken Arrownear Elm Place. Instead of using city staff, the city plansto hire a private company to calculate future streetimprovement needs. STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World

By TIM STANLEY World Staff Writer
Published: 4/28/2008 1:11 AM
Last Modified: 4/28/2008 12:13 PM

"To be fair to the entire community, we need to bring in experts," an official says.

BROKEN ARROW -- With heavy traffic taxing the city's street network and big dollars at stake, city officials are turning to outside experts to steer them right.

The city of Broken Arrow is hiring a private consulting firm to help officials plan for up to $20 million in new street improvements to keep up with the demands of growth.

Kenny Schwab, the city's director of engineering and construction, said: "When you have a community growing like we are and when that growth is headed in several different directions, to be fair to the entire community, we need to bring in experts."

The $70,000 contract with Jacobs Carter Burgess, a national engineering-design firm with a Tulsa office, goes to the City Council for approval May 6.

It's a small price to pay, officials say, if it helps them make the most of the money they're investing in roads.

A bond election this fall will offer a package with a possible $20 million in new street improvements, city spokesman Keith Sterling said.

By the end of this fiscal year, the city of Broken Arrow will have poured $47 million into road improvements since 1998, city records show.

That doesn't include another $20 million allocated for scheduled street projects not yet under way, officials said.

Project manager Doug Duke of Jacobs Carter Burgess said the firm will give the city a picture of street needs -- including widenings and other upgrades -- through 2020, helping the city plan for the upcoming bond issue with an eye to future ones.

"We have to determine where travel demand is going to be and forecast future land use, residential and commer cial," Duke said.

The firm will present its findings and recommendations to the City Council by the end of June, officials said, followed by a final report in July.

The firm will also help the city revise its design criteria.

As part of the study, the consultants will grade each of the city's major streets and intersections based on traffic volume, capacity, speed and other factors.

"It will allow us to see how they are performing today and estimate how each would do if we, say, widened it to three lanes, to four and so on, and how much it would cost, so we can prioritize the projects," Schwab said.

Previously, city street planning has consisted primarily of forming a committee of city staff and residents. Resident input will still be important, officials said.

"With the consultant's report we will have something more objective to go on, but we will still have local input," Schwab said.

"They've been going at (street planning) with kind of a patchwork approach here and there," Duke said. "They want to change that to a more long-term comprehensive ap proach."

Broken Arrow officials saw examples of Carter Burgess' street planning in Dallas-area suburbs and were impressed, Schwab said.

The city interviewed several firms after deciding private was the way to go, he said.

Broken Arrow officials say they are not aware of any other area communities using private firms to plan streets.

Tulsa plans its street projects entirely in-house, city spokeswoman Kim MacLeod said.

Tim Stanley 581-8385
tim.stanley@tulsaworld.com

By TIM STANLEY World Staff Writer

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	Report Comment JW, (4/28/2008 7:14:09 AM) So what precludes Tulsa from doing something like this? Why are we always getting outsmarted by the smaller communities?
	Report Comment WilliamTheArtist, Tulsa (4/28/2008 8:26:43 AM) #1 JW.... What do you mean?
	Report Comment BA Dweller, Broken Arrow (4/28/2008 8:39:22 AM) All I know is that anything is an improvement over the amount of time it has taken them to "widen" 71st and Elm in BA. It's ridiculous! I admittidly don't know what it takes to widen a road but it definitely seems it should've been completed a long time ago. Go for it BA, hire the private consultants...anything is better!
	Report Comment Tony, Tulsa (4/28/2008 9:05:51 AM) Tulsa should do the same. Drive down Denver Ave. between 11th & 2nd - or practically any downtown street for that matter. Our entire city leadership should be embarrassed that downtown has been such a mess for so long. Yes, it's a big undertaking, but all the more reason it should be systematic and controlled rather than a free-for-all.
	Report Comment David, Tulsa (4/28/2008 9:09:05 AM) Because 20 million is nothing compared to what Tulsa needs. The wheels turn faster when dealing with smaller cities.
	Report Comment Rikitikitavi, Nowhere (4/28/2008 10:57:30 AM) BA needs $20 million to fix roads. Tulsa needs over $2 billion to fix roads and bridges. There is no comparison.
	Report Comment b, ba (4/28/2008 11:14:24 AM) Why do we hire consultants, it seems to be the thing people do who are paid to do a job for the city, county, state or political office.(Feds too) How many civil, construction or mechanical engineers are on the payroll for this very purpose. The school system wants consultants to straighten up their mess from what I read in the paper. Just food for thought - why does everyone need consultants?
	Report Comment Okie in Dallas, Dallas (4/28/2008 2:21:05 PM) I worked for the Engineering Dept in BA at one time. I think it's great that they would call in experts to study the solutions for thier futue. In Dallas they build roads before bussiness move in. It's the "if we build it, they will come" way of thinking. Here in Dallas metro area it never fails. It's roads first then comes the business. Then the buiness don't have to shut down while the roads are being brought up to date. It takes faith to think big and in Texas they think Big. Come on BA I have faith in you.
	Report Comment Maximum, Oklahoma (4/28/2008 2:40:24 PM) Oklahomans DO NOT think big and definitely DO NOT plan for the future.
	Report Comment bs, Broken Arrow (4/28/2008 9:12:31 PM) BA builds too many subdivisions, apartment complexes, and sports parks without even considering the traffic problems it creates. It's time to stop the building until streets can accomodate the traffic!

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