Ken Busby, CEO and executive director of the Route 66 Alliance, provided an update this week on Public Radio Tulsa about the ongoing Route 66 Experience museum project in Tulsa.
You can listen to the 25-minute interview here. Here are some highlights:
— About $13 million is raised, nearly two-thirds of the way to the $23 million goal. Busby said about $2 million to $3 million would be used for an endowment to help pay for the museum’s operating expenses.
— Busby said he’s trying to draw national sponsors outside of Tulsa for the project. He says he has one commitment, and he said landing a second national sponsor looks promising.
— Busby anticipates a groundbreaking this summer and completion by November 2018.
— The museum will include a 40-car drive-in movie theater on its top level. The museum also will feature a high-tech virtual drive on Route 66.
— Other museums in Tulsa, including the Philbrook, want to give complementary Route 66 exhibits when the Route 66 Experience is up and running.
— Busby said he believe the Route 66 Experience will become a destination because of so much interest from international travelers, in addition to domestic tourists.
— He said the alliance is looking at “long-range plan” to nominally rehabilitate and reopen the closed 11th Street Bridge so it may be used by pedestrians, cyclists, food trucks and concert events.
(Artist’s rendering of the Route 66 Experience in Tulsa)
Reopening the 11th Street Bridge is awesome news.