Paving paradise: The (possible) story of how an outlet mall will eat Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain
Some big news hit my hometown this week.
But that corner of the city is also home to something that is the opposite of this proposed temple of free enterprise and commercialism. It’s home to the city’s only wild green space.
Big business property developer buys part of Turkey Mountain to build an outlet mall!
So the 800,000 square foot outlet mall dumped on Turkey Mountain goes in. Now little two lane 61st street will not handle the thousands of bargain shoppers who cut through on Elwood to avoid the traffic at Tulsa Hills. Picture this, folks: 61st street and Elwood are widened to at least 4 lanes. Maybe 6. Think of all the trails we lose when that happens. The trails that meander along 61st Street will be to an added 2 lanes–plus they will probably be so nice to throw in some 8′ concrete sidewalks. The traffic even now on 61st Street and Elwood Avenue has tripled since Tulsa Hills was built. Residents from west Tulsa who need to commute over the 71st Street river bridge skip the deluge of un-synchronized stoplights by McDonald’s/QuikTrip/Lowe’s/and 1000 other stores–and speed over on 61st Street and rocket down Elwood only to wait at the 71/Elwood stoplight at the newly improved intersection that was widened from two lanes to TWO LANES. OOPS?!?!? It is impossible to get through this intersection in the morning drive in less than 10 minutes due to this lack of foresight. Now let’s quadruple the traffic flow with shoppers. Believe me–all of the 1.6 miles from 71/Elwood to the outlet mall will be widened in a big way. How do you widen Elwood going up the hill? Goodbye Lipbuster.
100-plus volunteers repair, reroute trails on Turkey Mountain
Michael Patton, executive director of The Metropolitan Environmental Trust, which helped organize the volunteers, said the event was unique because of the wilderness area itself — you can’t just drive a truck up the trails. Crews had to “do it the hard way to keep it wilderness,” Patton said, by using wheelbarrows to carry up gravel and dirt to fill in eroded terrain.
