Tulsa's Streets Big Issue For Mayoral Candidates

Streets were an issue in the Tulsa mayor's race four years ago and they'll be an issue this time around. And if there's one thing all three candidates agree on, it's that Tulsa needs to do even more to improve our streets.

Over the last five years, Tulsa dramatically increased the dollars spent on road repair, and all three of the top candidates had a hand in making it happen.

That's why it's not surprising all three want to see more investment in city streets.

"I think we need to continue to invest in our infrastructure," former Mayor Kathy Taylor said. "It's what shows our city is moving forward and not backwards, and I'm glad that when I was in office, voters approved that package that was the largest investment in streets in our history, and we need to do it again. But for citizens to trust government with their money, we've got to be transparent, we've got to show them their tax dollars are being used well."

Taylor and former City Councilor Bill Christiansen support another major bond package for streets, but think the city can better coordinate the projects.

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"To maintain the confidence of the citizens of Tulsa, we need to re-evaluate the process we use when we do street rehabilitation," Christiansen said. "Because a lot of people are upset about how long the projects are taking and the inconvenience of driving, because they'll do projects that interfere with traffic in a local area, but I am all for street funding.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett wants to speed up repairs by hiring more city crews to make constant repairs.

"One of the problems we've had in this city is that we have not maintained the street system," Bartlett said. "That's why they are prematurely deteriorating to the point that we have to rebuild and replace them--a very, very expensive process, and unless we have dedicated crews fixing the streets, we'll be rebuilding and replacing them again. But if we maintain them, with a relatively small amount of money dedicated to that process, they will last decades longer."

There will be in-person absentee voting available at the election board this Friday and next Monday. Everyone else can cast ballots next Tuesday.

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