City Councilor To Propose 'Transit Hub' For Downtown Tulsa

A Tulsa city councilor wants to see an expansive Tulsa Transit Hub in downtown. He’ll officially pitch the idea next week, but he’s already getting support from the Downtown Coordinating Council.

At the regular DCC meeting Wednesday, a packet of priority projects recommended by the group was handed out.

There were several things, but on the third page was the element that excited people the most - development of a transit hub.

City Councilor Blake Ewing said some money would come from vision renewal funding and the rest, possibly through federal grants.

It would most likely be built near the Center of the Universe and jazz depot downtown. Right now it might just be bridges and railroad tracks, but Ewing envisions much more.

"The pictures are pretty and the video is cool and I'm excited to show it off," he said.

Ewing won't show those yet, but we do have examples of similar ideas the DCC provided during Wednesdays meeting – Charlotte, North Carolina's Rapid Transit Station and Denver's Union Station Multi-Modal Transit Hub.

Similar to these, the Tulsa Hub would directly connect the larger downtown districts, provide bike share programs and potentially offer rail service.

“We've talked about bike shares and the downtown circulator, and that one idea was meant to envelop all of those things into one notion," Ewing said.

The Coordinating Council liked what it heard, and so did Tulsa County Commissioner, Karen Keith.

“We have a finite amount of dollars we use for vision, so it is important that those dollars be used for visionary projects," she said.

Keith said Tulsa needs to address downtown transportation.

“This would be as big a leap forward when that plan is revealed as the BOK Center, and people will understand it and get it and it’s exciting," she said.

A preliminary price tag for the hub is around $50 million.

Ewing will make the official pitch to city council on September 17th, saying he wants to make sure he has discussions with all parties involved before releasing too many details.