Citizens provide input at Active Transportation Meeting
Citizens heard updates on major projects in the City of McAlester and provided valuable input for a grant application aimed at improving a high-traffic area in a variety of ways.
Grants Administrator Michael Allen detailed the latest information on two transportation projects Tuesday in the first of a series of Active Transportation Meetings.
The City of McAlester is working to improve Electric Avenue, which is the most frequently traveled city street with an average daily traffic count of 7,200 vehicles. Among streets slated for repair, Electric Avenue is a focal point, and we are in pursuit of a RAISE Grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to lay the groundwork for this multimodal initiative on Electric Avenue from A Street to Strong Boulevard.
Conducting a survey is the first step in getting the planning grant. Anyone can anonymously provide input on the project until Feb. 20 at www.cityofmcalester.com/ElectricAvenueSurvey. Nearly half of respondents have said they were not satisfied at all with the road’s condition, with the top three safety concerns indicated being poor road conditions (92.5%), pedestrian safety along roadways (66.8%), and visual impairment from barriers (56.5%). The survey seeks additional input with a variety of questions and a comment section to help the City address community needs for the roadway.
Citizens also provided input on signage and other concerns regarding the Strong Boulevard Sidewalk Project, which engineers from Infrastructure Solutions Group plan to start the fourth and final phase soon. The project is a partnership between the state’s Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust and the city of McAlester to construct an ADA-accessible sidewalk on Strong Boulevard from Electric Avenue to Washington Avenue to encourage healthy living and walkability. TSET approved a grant of $152,900 for Phase IV, extending from Monroe Avenue to Washington Avenue.
City officials ask citizens to provide input on issues related to multimodal transportation, which includes all modes of transportation, to help inform policy and promote improvements citywide. Active Transportation Meetings will be held at 6 p.m. at the JI Stipe Center on the following dates:
- Monday, May 6, 2024
- Monday, Aug, 5, 2024
- Monday, Nov. 4, 2024