 | The OKC Water Transportation System (OWTS), in the Enterprise Community of the City of Oklahoma City
Oklahoma County, OklahomaAbstractThe OKC Water Transportation System (OWTS) will provide over six miles of vital inexpensive water transportation linking downtown Oklahoma City, the Murrah Revitalization District, the Bricktown redevelopment area, the Native American Cultural Facility (a brownfield redevelopment), and numerous other potential brownfield redevelopment sites by utilizing the Bricktown Canal system and the North Canadian River. The OWTS project will implement a fleet of boats as a water shuttle in conjunction with the present fleet of trolley buses, mass transit buses, and the Phase I canal boats presently in operation to produce a complete transportation system. The OWTS project is centered in the Enterprise Community in the inner-urban portion of the City, see attachment AEC-1". The demographics of this area as compared to the entire city are a population 102,000 residents (475,300 for the corporate city), a poverty rate of 44.6% (15.9% for the city), a minority concentration of 40.7% (27.1% for the city), a vacant housing rate of 24.6% (15.9% for the city), an unemployment rate 18.5% (7.2% for the city), an education rate not attaining a high school degree of 41.2% (21.8% for the city), an owner occupied housing rate of 46.5% (59.5% for the city), and a median household income of $8,516 ($25,741 for the city). The number of daily commuting residents to, from, and through the Enterprise Community is approximately 350,000 by traffic count data. The most important facet the TCSP grant will provide is a truly inexpensive form of transportation for the disadvantaged and minority residents. By obtaining the grant for implementation of compressed natural gas powered boats, the overall cost of operating OWTS will be sufficiently low to keep ticket prices at a level for economically disadvantaged riders to utilize the system. Alternatively without grant funding, the boats would be implemented by a vendor ultimately increasing the cost of fares to the point of prohibiting said disadvantaged residents from utilizing the system. The fueling station for the fleet will be provided by Oklahoma Natural Gas, Inc., a major utility in the state, at approximately one third the cost normally associated. The City's redevelopment program will fund the cost of implementing the station and locks in upstream dams. By funding the OWTS project, the Federal Highway Administration will play an integral part in a $350 million Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS) redevelopment initiative funded by the citizens of Oklahoma City. The TCSP pilot program will establish transportation for all residents to Get on the OWTS. Previous Page |
