New city trails and other enhancements progressing

If you are one of many Oklahoma City residents who enjoy using the city’s trail system as a healthy way to get someplace or simply as a good way to exercise, you will be glad to know that the various citywide trails and bike lane improvements as part of the Better Streets, Safer City program are getting closer to completion or will start soon.

There are 13 different trails projects in the Better Streets, Safer City Program that are being funded by a temporary penny sales tax approved by voters in September 2017. Other projects included in the program – street resurfacing and enhancements, sidewalks and bicycle infrastructure – are also being paid for by sales taxes.

Eric Wenger, Oklahoma City public works director and city engineer, explained that trail improvements tied to Lake Hefner, Lake Overholser and the Oklahoma River trails have been essentially completed. Trail projects that are currently underway include improvements scheduled for Katy Trail, Deep Fork Trail and an extension at Lake Hefner. Workers will erect new wayfinding signage on the trails as well.

The Katy Trail runs north-south for seven miles along NE Grand Blvd between NW 58th St. and NE 10th before heading west along NE 4th to Lottie Ave. The Lake Hefner extension will be a new trail constructed on the northwest side of the lake, connecting Britton Road to Hefner Road. Those trails, along with many others across the city, will be the beneficiaries of new wayfinding signage the city recently approved. The signage will be installed on trails included in the Better Streets program. Wenger said some of the bases and support structures for the wayfinding signage is currently being constructed at Lake Hefner Trail.

“So if you were to ride that trail or if you are a user of that trail, you are going to start to see some concrete foundations poured for some of the new trail markers that are getting ready to go in,” he said.

One trail that is included in the trail masterplan of the Better Streets program but has yet to be started is the Deep Fork Trail, which will eventually connect the Katy Trail to the Grand Boulevard Trail near I-44 and Western. A more complicated trail to build and develop, the Deep Fork Trail is divided into five different phases that Wenger said will be paid for through multiple sources, including Better Streets funds, grant funds and general obligation bond funds. He expects some of the phases to open before others with total completion expected to occur sometime between 18 and 24 months.

“Deep Fork Trail is an expensive trail. It’s new construction and has several pedestrian bridges to get across the tributaries that go into the Deep Fork. The plans for the different phases are nearing completion and are expected to bid in the next few months,” Wenger said.

Construction of the Lake Hefner connection that will connect the existing Lake Hefner Trail system with the existing trail across the street on the north side of Hefner Road has not started yet, according to Wenger. He noted that the design portion of that project is complete, but the City is still working on acquiring the right of way necessary to make the connection. He expects bids to go out in late 2021 or early in 2022.

Wenger believes the biggest single impact for trail users will be the wayfinding system mentioned earlier. New signage will have smart phone capability that will allow trail users to track and find nearby locations when they are on the trail. The signage has yet to be erected on any existing trail, but Lake Hefner will be the first trail system in the city to see the technology integrated into the signage system, Wenger said. New mileage markers will also be installed on the trails.

“There is going to be just a lot of new construction that you are going to see on a lot of the existing trails, and that signage will be included on the new trails being constructed going forward,” Wenger said.

City officials are hopeful that all of the Better Streets tax projects will be complete or under construction in 2022. The street resurfacing projects and sidewalks will be the first to be completed. Trails will be finished next, followed by bike lanes. The last of the projects to be finished will be street enhancements due to their complexity, which include things like on-street parking, street restriping, trees and landscaping, lighting and other vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian amenities.

This story originally appeared in the October 2021 edition of the VeloCity newsletter.