Bridge Route Maps

BRIDGE OVER THE ARKANSAS: Bill Bacon, president of Infrastructure Ventures Inc. (IVI), the company behind the privately owned toll bridge proposed to span the Arkansas River from 121st Street and Yale Ave. on the north to 131st Street and Yale Place on the south, recently met with interested citizens of Bixby, Jenks and Tulsa at a meeting at the Community Center in Bixby. Bacon says this is not a new concept and noted a private toll bridge spanned the Arkansas River in Tulsa at about 11th Street in 1904. Bacon says private toll bridges exist in other areas of the country such as California. According to Tulsa County Commissioner Bob Dick, the Yale Street Bridge is a key element of the metropolitan area’s strategic transportation plan and would unlock a very large area of southern Tulsa County for residential, commercial and recreational development. It would relieve two north-south corridors, U.S. 64 (South Memorial Drive) and U.S. 75 (Okmulgee Beeline) of up to 10,000 vehicle trips per day, immediately open thousands of acres for residential, commercial, and industrial and recreational uses, permit new investments to begin almost immediately and boost property and other tax revenue. The north side of the bridge is in Tulsa. The south side is in Jenks. The project lies almost entirely within the Bixby School District. The bridge will create an immediate new focal point for further development of Riverside Drive. Bacon says the bridge would provide better emergency response, give Bixby, Jenks and Glenpool residents better access to Tulsa, relieve traffic on the Memorial Street Bridge and provide long term revenue to the county. The expected date for the opening of the bridge is January 2007.

As you can see, the proposed route puts all commercial and commuter traffic to the Yale/121st intersection where it could continue northbound onto Yale Avenue.  While we are told that most of the traffic will proceed onto 121st and Riverside, that intersection with Yale looks to be a possible nightmare.  Traffic during rush hour trying to get to the turnpike on Yale will further exacerbate the problem at the Jenks SE Grade School.  One issue brought up at the meeting was that there is no infrastructure in place on Yale or Riverside to handle the traffic from this bridge.  Yale Avenue, while slated for a 5-lane upgrade from the Creek Turnpike south, will always be a residential thoroughfare and Riverside needs major improvement to handle traffic from this bridge to the Creek Turnpike (take a look at the intersection by Jenks 8th Grade Center at 101st and Riverside).  Please note that this bridge is being touted as a boost for Bixby and Jenks, not for South Tulsa residents.

ALTERNATIVE ROUTE

The alternative routes would take the bridge to the west and tie in where Riverside turns east to 121st.  This intersection is already labeled as a problem and putting the bridge here could solve two issues.  In addition, traffic could be forced up Riverside to the turnpike instead of through a residential neighborhood.  There are property owners south of the river who would lose their land.  If the route on the south side was moved west, this would not happen and the road would simply proceed north after a slight bend in a corridor closer to the power plant.  Bridge proponents claim that this routing would cost an extra $5M - but nobody asks the cost to south Yale neighborhoods in terms of property value and safety.  In addition, the county is giving up over $600 million in tolls by having this bridge built by IVI.  By doing themselves, they could build the bridge where it needs to go and come out with more money.  Traffic crossing the bridge at the proposed location would tend to proceed north on Yale to access the Creek Turnpike, taking it directly to the Jenks SE Grade School during commuter hours when parents are dropping off their children.  By moving the bridge to the west and hooking it into the Riverside/121st area, traffic could be routed up Riverside to the Creek Turnpike.  Further safety for the school could be accomplished by declaring Yale a "No Truck" route. 

Below is a larger map area: