The folks behind the proposed Route 66 Experience museum in Tulsa launched a new website for it this week — including artist’s renderings of a few exhibits.
News releases in May 2015 revealed earlier renderings of the museum. Organizers — which include Route 66 Alliance members — and the website both state they want to have it open by 2018.
Renderings on the website show a few exhibits the Route 66 Experience has in mind:
The exhibits above include an interactive map, photo sharing, a sculpture of license plates, a long-haul big rig and a virtual road trip. The renderings note the designs are “preliminary.”
Below the drawings are this description:
With a mixture of permanent displays, rotating artifact collections, temporary exhibits and fully interactive audio-visual experiences, the interpretive center will be the definitive Route 66 destination for families and enthusiasts alike. This home of ultra-modern storytelling will resonate for the content that’s presented and for the way it’s experienced.
The Route 66 Experience plans a drive-in movie theater, two restaurants, visitor information center, retail shop, resource center, event space, office or commercial space for lease, elevated pedestrian walkway and underground parking. The website proclaims it as “Tulsa’s next big thing.”
The complex sprawls over Southwest Boulevard and West 12th Street (both Route 66) and Riverside Drive. The site sits near the Arkansas River and the historic but closed 11th Street Bridge.
The “Take Action” part of the website links to a Generosity.com site, where the Route 66 Alliance seeks to raise $66,000. It includes this video by Route 66 Alliance co-founder Michael Wallis:
https://youtu.be/el2voQo0LwQ
The Route 66 Alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit group. Previous reporting indicates the museum will cost $19.5 million, with a sizable chunk coming from donations.
(Artist’s rendering of the Route 66 Experience and exhibits via its website)