Dozens of Norman residents voiced praise and concerns about the Porter Avenue Corridor study during a more than four-hour Norman City Council meeting Tuesday evening before the council voted unanimously to approve the study's advancement.
The Porter Avenue Corridor Plan was devised after the Kansas City, Mo.-based consulting firm Ochsner Hare & Hare completed a 15-month study of a 60-block area near Porter Avenue. The council accepted the results of the study, but its individual recommendations -- including the narrowing of Porter and the addition of two roundabouts in the area -- were not adopted and will be voted upon individually. As a result Tuesday's vote, the City of Norman will move forward with strategy meetings with residents and business owners, determining project financing and creating a design goal.
"I was horrified, just horrified, about the prospect of turning Porter into a two-lane road," said Jack Dawson, who lives at 315 N. Crawford. "This was proposed by a bunch of people from Kansas City. How many of them have been to a football-game-Saturday?"
Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said the council will try to make it more clear in the future whether or not it is voting on specific elements or simply discussing the plan. She said there had been confusion from some. After further study, various committees will report progress on the plan to the city council in April 2010. Construction might not begin for years.
Norman resident Dale Wares' take on the Porter Plan
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