Oklahoma City (OKC) offers people a lot to see and do. Yet, it doesn’t rank high as a place where someone can walk easily to complete errands or exercise. Whether a person is considering a move or visit to Oklahoma City or already lives and works in the region, this guide covers the basics about the city’s walkability.
What Is OKC’s Walk Rank?
In 2017, Zillow ranked Oklahoma City as the 16th least walkable city in the United States with a walk score of 32.1 for a population of approximately 579,999 people. By 2021, OKC hadn’t improved much. The Walk Score widget website ranked it 34.1 out of 2,800 cities and thousands of neighborhoods in the U.S. and Canada. Yet, these numbers don’t mean that OKC is stuck in a state of unwalkability.
OKC Takes Steps Forward
Sadly in 2021, the city saw 250 pedestrian accidents, resulting in 26 deaths. Oklahoma City is now working to increase safety and walkability by providing safe routes for pedestrian. In 2025, the city will continue to work on and promote its MAPS 4 Project. Sidewalks in highly walkable areas will contain medallions embedded in the concrete that essentially serve as markers that allow people to know the best places to walk. This project attempts, via a $61 million investment, to add sidewalks to areas previously only accessible by motor vehicle. The current goal is to complete more than 11 miles of new paths, the equivalent of 35 sidewalks, over the rest of 2025. The project has enough funds so far to continue through roughly 2029 to 2031. Parents and their children, especially in South OKC , a region that experienced fewer infrastructure investments in the past, will see the area become more walkable and safe first with new sidewalks placed in school zones.
What Is the MAPS Project?
As noted by Mayor David Holt in recent interviews, the MAPS Project has been a more than two-decade effort that started in 1993 by OKC officials to make the city more friendly to students, pedestrians and people with disabilities who need places other than streets to walk or use their medical mobility equipment. With a one-cent tax funding source, officials designed MAPS initially to restructure the downtown. In the years since, it’s become more aligned with connecting all OKC neighborhoods via sidewalks. Every sidewalk will meet strict ADA compliance standards and feature updated crossings so that people have better access to OKC’s many parks, medical centers and schools. These walking areas will also feature updated public art and landscape design that includes the installation of drainage areas and trees and other plants.
What Is the 2025 Schedule?
At the time of this writing, the MAPS 4 sidewalk installation schedule includes Grand Boulevard and 38th to 44th (Blackwelder to Douglas), 51st and 55th (Villa to Pennsylvania) and 134th (Western to Spring Creek Drive) in Southwest OKC and Thorn Ridge Road, Quail Creek Road and Springhollow Road. In the Northwest Expressway Area, plans are underway to connect from NW 63rd to Meridian and Wilshire Boulevard. Lastly, in Northwest OKC, pedestrians and others can expect construction to include Military Avenue (26th to 30th), Western Avenue (23rd to 36th), Shartel Avenue (23rd to 43rd), 36th Street (Western to Shartel), and multiple other streets near 25th through 34th (Classen to Western).
What Neighborhoods Are Currently Walkable?
According to Redfin, people who live and work in Oklahoma City can find some existing infrastructure for their walking needs in the region’s 600-square-mile area. The most walkable neighborhood, Paseo, has a Redfin score of 86 out of 100. Other neighborhoods that rank highly are in the same wider area and include Corridor South, Mesta Park, Epworth and Helm Farm. Gatewood UCD and the Downtown Area also rank highly. Outside of these regions, the walk score drops. For example, Fbir (Fairdale/Belle-Isle/Riviera) is considered only somewhat walkabout with a score of 69 out of 100.