Tulsa Route 66 shield repaired again (fingers crossed)

The big Route 66 shields on an overpass at Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza in Tulsa have been repaired again after vandalism a few months ago, and city officials are optimistic they’ve taken the steps to lessen the likelihood that will happen again.

City planner Dennis Whitaker told Urban Tulsa:

“We think we’ve got a pretty good system in place,” he said. “The head architect has fanned out some additional schematic panels of mesh on the bridge that are transparent from the street. They don’t obstruct the view from the skywalk, either.”

With the new protective panels, he said, designers believe they have come as close as they can to keeping someone from being able to damage the shields, even if they are swinging an object, without encapsulating them. Whitaker said additional barriers have been put in place that also will keep anyone from accessing the outside of the pedestrian bridge and damaging the shields that way.

Whitaker also said that security cameras also were being placed around the plaza.

Whitaker also told the newspaper that the design for a Route 66 museum on the site should begin this fall, and that a bronze statue should also be placed at the plaza late this year or in early 2011.

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