Voters in Tulsa passed the Vision Tulsa sales-tax extension by a wide margin Tuesday, and a few Route 66 projects will receive pieces of the $884 million pie.
The big project of Vision Tulsa is building low-water dams on the Arkansas River. But here are the Route 66-related projects Vision Tulsa will fund:
— Route 66 Village, $3 million: The money will go to building a replica of a long-ago train depot that once existed in southwest Tulsa called the Redfork Depot, plus more parking, security and better access to the existing attractions, such as the Frisco Meteor 4500 steam locomotive and the Red Fork Centennial oil derrick.
— Citywide and Route 66 beautification and reinvestment, $11 million: It creates a fund for annual beautification of Tulsa’s residential neighborhoods, deteriorating commercial shopping areas and major thoroughfares and entryways into downtown and the city.
— Permanent sales tax for transportation, $105 million: A part of this will be spent on a rapid-transit bus line on the 11th Street alignment of Route 66 from downtown to 145th East Avenue. Buses will stop at stations about every 15 minutes from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
The Vision Tulsa extension springs from the original Vision 2025 one-cent sales tax, passed by 60 percent of the voters in 2003 (Tuesday night’s approval margin was similar). A sizable chunk of Vision 2025 went to building the BOK Center, which has become one of the most successful arenas in the country.
But Vision 2025 also earmarked $15 million for dressing up Route 66 in Tulsa, including:
- Restoration of the historic Meadow Gold neon sign
- Building Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza and Cyrus Avery Memorial Bridge
- Commissioning the “East Meets West” statue at the plaza
- Several exhibits at the Route 66 Village in southwest Tulsa
- Several wayside exhibits and signs
(Images from Route 66 Village’s Redfork Depot proposal at a Tulsa City Council meeting)