City Councilors Say Arkansas River Pedestrian Bridge Design Lacks Important Feature

Tulsa City Councilors were disappointed to see the latest designs for the new pedestrian bridge over the Arkansas River. They said something is lacking and were told, it’s all about the budget.

The City of Tulsa was updated Wednesday on the Gateway bridge that will connect the east and west banks of the Arkansas River at Gathering Place. The city has budgeted $27.4 million for the new bridge, but city councilors learned Wednesday that's not enough to cover some of the design aspects shown in early renderings.

Jeff Stava, COO for Tulsa Community Foundation, presented to city councilors an update on the project.

"This will be the very first plate-arch bridge to be built in the United States so it'll have a very significant architectural look and feel that will be unique and special to Tulsa," said Stava.

The bridge will be about 18 feet wide with room for pedestrians and cyclists, but city councilors noticed it's missing one thing: shade.

"That to me is really sad that there's not going to be any shade, you're not going to have a lot of people that are going to want to sit out there in the middle of Oklahoma summers," said District 3 Councilor Crista Patrick.

Patrick, like others in the meeting, was disappointed these latest renderings didn't include any form of shade. Jeff Stava said that would be nice, but it all comes down to a budget.

"The budget of $27.4 [million] just wouldn't allow the ability to build the structure and the bridge shade to be able to hold it and sustain it in high winds and in severe weather," Stava said.

He said adding shade would tack on another $7 to $10 million to the project. However, he told city council that their suggestions would be considered and taken to the design team.

"We'll look at some temporary shade parasail type shade structures, we'll definitely look at that and see if that is something we can incorporate," Stava said.

The bridge is expected to be completed in 2022.