OKC Plan, 2000-2020 - City of Oklahoma City

Transportation systems are responsible for moving people, goods and services from one
location to another within a community and beyond. Transportation systems are generally
composed of streets and highways, transit lines—both bus and rail, airports, railroads as well as
walking and bicycle trails.
Transportation systems have a profound effect on the urban form and development patterns
of a city. Transportation systems that facilitate access to employment, labor, goods and services are
crucial to the economic and social well being of a community. No other public service so affects
development patterns or is so affected by them.
Careful planning of transportation systems is becoming increasingly more important as
capital and social costs for most transportation systems rise. The construction of a single roadway
will cost millions of dollars and can open an area for more intense urbanization. Other consequences
can include increased air and water quality problems, faster storm water runoff, and less efficient
development patterns.
Assets
Local Street Network
Oklahoma City classifies its street network into a hierarchy of facilities based upon land accessibility
and traffic mobility. The classification system includes arterial, collector, and local streets. The
arterial streets are those streets that serve the longest trips and move the highest traffic volumes, with
access to individual properties being a secondary function. Collector streets provide middle-level
traffic volumes and access to property. Local streets primarily provide access to individual lots and
move lower levels of traffic.
In Oklahoma City’s traditional neighborhoods, the network of local streets is generally in a grid
configuration with section line roads serving as arterial streets and quarter section roads being used
as collector streets. In this configuration, virtually all local streets have access to an arterial street.
The street pattern changes in the urban growth area and local streets become more curvilinear in
character. The curvilinear local streets feed into collector streets. This system of local and collector
streets is framed by arterial section line roads. Access to the local street network from the arterial
streets is limited by a restricted number of intersections with collector streets.
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