Walkability Workshop: Blair, Oklahoma

Walkability Workshop Blair, Oklahoma

Jackson County TSET Healthy Living Program OU Institute for Quality Communities

Blair Walkability Workshop Summary Jackson County TSET Healthy Living Program OU Institute for Quality Communities May 17, 2017 On May 17, 2017, the Jackson County Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust (TSET) Healthy Living Program invited the University of Oklahoma Institute for Quality Communities to visit Blair, Oklahoma. Blair is a community of just over 800 people located 10 miles north of Altus. The goal of the visit was to meet with community members about possible improvements to enhance walkability in Blair.

Jackson County TSET staff hosted a group of about 20 people from Blair and surrounding communities, including town officials, health agency employees, and students from the local school. IQC staff led the group in a walking tour to learn about walking destinations, walking routes, and obstacles to walking in Blair. The group discussed their experience on the walking tour over lunch and then used two maps to draw concepts for improving walking in the community.

This brief report provides an overview of ideas developed during the workshop, including assets and challenges for walking in Blair, and a series of priorities to improve walking in Blair:

• • • •

Strengthen the transition into town to slow traffic on US-283.

Add and enhance pedestrian crossings of US-283.

Treat the school as a community campus.

Designate priority walking routes.

Assets for Walking in Blair Blair’s geographic scale of just 0.4 square miles makes it a compact community where it is possible to walk to most destinations within 5-10 minutes. During a walking tour, community members emphasized a few key destinations for walking:

Blair Public School: The school campus is located near the center of town. The school has students from Pre-K to 12th grade and attractive athletic facilities. Many students of all ages walk to school and walk between buildings and facilities on the school campus. The school also has an open campus lunch for older students who can walk to nearby shops and restaurants.

Quiet Residential Streets and Alleys: The residential neighborhoods of Blair have quiet streets with low traffic levels. The community has a clean and safe appearance.

Some people use certain alleys to walk across town as an alternative to the streets.

Main Street: Main Street and the surrounding blocks have several local businesses, including shops and restaurants.

Blair City Park: The park is located on the east side of the community and has a number of recreational facilities.

Events including a music festival and the community Easter Egg Hunt are held in the park each year.

Challenges for Walking in Blair The primary challenge for walking in Blair is US-283, a four-lane highway carrying 4,000-6,000 vehicles per day. There are very few sidewalks and crosswalks throughout the town.

Only One Crosswalk on US-283: The highway has sidewalks on both sides of the street, but crossing the street often feels unsafe. The street is 50 feet wide from curb to curb. There are no stop signs or traffic signals on US-283, and there is only one crosswalk.

Traffic Near School: During school drop-off and pick-up times, or during athletic events, streets around the school can become congested and confusing and there are no sidewalks. Crosswalks in the area have faded away.

Traffic Speeds on US-283: The posted speed limit on the highway reduces from 65 mph to 35 miles per hour as it enters the town. Just a block before Main Street, the posted speed reduces further to 30 miles per hour. There is a school zone of 25 miles per hour during certain times of day, for approximately 300 feet around the school. However, the low volume of traffic and wide lanes mean many vehicles speed through the area regardless of the posted limits, especially with no stop signs or signals in the community.

Strengthen transition into town to slow traffic on US-283.

At the edges of Blair, the transition from highway speeds of 65 miles per hour to in-town speeds of 30 miles per hour or less should be emphasized through design, not just with the posted speed limit signs. This transition should be emphasized at the north end of town and the south end of town. Community members shared ideas for a gateway marker, messages and signs, or landscaping to heighten driver awareness of the upcoming town and school.

• Add street trees or light poles with banners along the curb line to narrow the field of vision.

• Add Blair gateway signage noting the presence of a school and pedestrians. Check out ideas for a “Burma Shave” inspired sign series on the next page.

• Add thermoplastic pavement legends in the lanes to supplement signs as provided by Section 3B.20 of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, such as “SLOW,” “SCHOOL XING,” “PED XING,” or “25 MPH.”

Gateway idea inspired by Burma-Shave Signs Burma-Shave signs were iconic symbols along the newly developing highway system in the United States, displaying humorous jingles to send a message. These signs reached newly mobile—and upwardly mobile—Americans who were trendsetters with their new automobiles. For more information visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma-Shave or http://burma-shave.org/jingles/ Boiled down, most of these were written in ALL CAPS with a series of 6 signs per set. The fifth sign was normally a simple placeholder for the sixth one. These were arranged in the order that the motorist approached them. For Blair, this type of signage could be an option that is historical, playful, and effective. Some of the ideas are as follows. The “/” sign signifies the end of one sign and the beginning of the next one in a series of signs.

• •

DON’T BLAST / THROUGH BLAIR / OUR KIDS / WALK HERE / YOU’RE IN / BRONC COUNTRY SPEEDING BY / DOES SUCK / IF YOU’RE IN / A REALLY BIG TRUCK / SLOW NOW / YOU’RE IN / BRONC COUNTRY • NO NEED / TO SPEED / NO NEED / TO HONK / WATCH OUT / FOR OUR BRONCS • A BIG AMEN / YOU’RE CLOSE TO / MAIN AND ZINN / WATCH FOR WALKERS / WOMEN & MEN / IN DOWNTOWN BLAIR • WE’RE A SMALL TOWN / SO SLOW DOWN / IN A BLINK / YOU COULD HIT US / GOING THROUGH / BEAUTIFUL BLAIR* • OBEY THE / ROAD RULES / KIDS WALK / TO OUR SCHOOLS / YOU’RE IN / BRONC COUNTRY • WATCH FOR KIDS / WATCH FOR BRONCS / SLOW DOWN NOW / FOR DOWNTOWN / YOU’RE THERE / IN BEAUTIFUL BLAIR * This one is a play on the old phrase, “It’s such a small town, that you blink and you miss it.” Here it is “It’s such a small town, that you blink and you could hit us.”

Real Examples of Burma-Shave Signs

Add and enhance pedestrian crossings of US-283.

There is only one marked crossing of US-283 in Blair, and people cross at locations with new crosswalk markings to avoid going far out of their way. Blair would benefit from stronger and more frequent crosswalks.

• Add a crosswalk at 7th Street so that there is a crosswalk on both the north and south side of the school.

• Add a crosswalk at Main Street so that people can safely cross while visiting various businesses.

• Add a four-way stop at Main Street to control vehicle/pedestrian conflicts and provide a fully protected place for people to cross US-283 in Blair.

Treat the school as a community campus.

School buildings and facilities span a few streets between 5th Street, 7th Street, US-283, and Coffee Avenue. Students regularly cross 5th Street and Hughes when moving between school facilities. This entire area can be considered the campus of the public school, where through-traffic is highly discouraged.

• Limit speeds to 5-10 miles per hour with markers and landscaping at intersections leading to the campus area.

• Mark intersections and mid-block crossing locations with crosswalks, which may be creative crosswalks designed and maintained by students each year.

• Consider temporary closures of Hughes Drive from 5th to 7th Street. The street may be closed with moveable barriers during school hours, during athletic events, or other events at the school.

Designate priority walking routes.

A number of concepts for highlighting walking routes were imagined by the group. Main Street and Hughes Drive were identified as two primary streets for walking. Participants also reported the use of alleys and off-street paths.

• Use painted Bronc hoof prints to identify priority walking streets like Main and Hughes.

• Use inexpensive signs to point to walkable destinations and show the time required to walk to the destination.

• Highlight the alley between US-283 and Hughes Drive as a “Bronc Trail” since the alley is used as an alternative to streets for walking by students. Gateway markers could be made from T-posts and horse shoes.

• Explore the possibility of an off-street gravel or concrete path following the wooded creek and drainage area that connects the school and the park.

Existing Assets Dark green elements on the map represent current walkability assets.

Existing Sidewalks on US-283

City Park

Main Street

Main Street Business Area

5th Street

Existing Crosswalk at 5th Street

School and Athletic Fields

Hughes Drive

US-283

7th Street

New Concepts Dark green elements on the map represent expanded walkability.

Add North Gateway Transition

Add Main Street Crosswalk and Stop

Main Street

Priority Walking Route: Main Priority Walking Route: Bronc Trail Priority Walking Route: Hughes Drive

5th Street

Potential Off-Street Trail Route

7th Street

Add South Gateway Transition

Hughes Drive

US-283

Add 7th Street Crosswalk

Next Steps for Blair Blair has excellent resources, including a talented town administrator experienced in obtaining grants, a network of supportive community and county organizations, and a strong school. The concepts in this report may need further refinement and development to determine which items are worth pursuing to improve walkability in Blair.

The following pathways to implementation came up during the workshop:

• Communication with ODOT: Communication with ODOT is key to negotiate how to address the priorities of Blair where the highway passes through the community to ensure that it does not harm Blair’s safety and prosperity.

• Grants: Grant programs like Safe Routes to School could fund more significant improvements that are related to the school building, like adding sidewalks or crosswalks.

• Fundraising: Blair has often used community fundraisers to pay for local projects. Such an effort could help pay for gateway treatments on US-283.

• Events: Blair has experience with events like Walk to School Day that can continue to promote walking.

• Low-Cost Materials: The community might use low-cost materials like paint, gravel, and other resources that are locally available to implement some concepts more quickly and cost effectively.

• Volunteers: Local volunteers can design and organize construction for projects.

• Students: Classrooms at the school could work on some projects as part of their arts curriculum, or after-school activities can provide time for these projects.

With continued conversation about walkability, dedication from community members, and continued support from organizations like the TSET Healthy Living Program, Blair can make progress in becoming a safer, healthier community.

Workshop Contributors Jackson County Health Department Victoria Cleveland, TSET Healthy Living Program Tara Turner, TSET Healthy Living Program

City of Altus Jon Kidwell, City Council Chris Griffith, Parks and Recreation

OU Institute for Quality Communities Shane Hampton, Director Hope Mander, Associate Director Ron Frantz, Director of Small Town Studios

Community Action Development Corporation Judy Smith, Sentinel Office Janice Rozell Nikkie Fry

Town of Blair Karri Orick, Town Administrator

Great Plains Literacy Council Ida Fay Winters

Blair Public School Students Lizzy Robertson, Sophomore Ayden Stewart, 8th Grade Abby Zhang, Senior

Jackson County Health Action Team Barbara Burleson, Nutrition & Fitness Task Force Shortgrass Community Health Center Ginger Creech Southwest Oklahoma Community Action Group Tephanie Carman, TSET Healthy Living Program – Tillman County Shaundra Covey, TSET Healthy Living Program - Jackson County Schools & Community Institutions Virginia Goskey, SOCAG Senior Nutrition

Cover Icon Community Walk by Gan Khoon Lay from the Noun Project

Town of Olustee Kim Keller, Town Clerk-Treasurer