A Tulsa Vision proposal would expand the Center of the Universe into a five-block transit hub.
City Councilor Blake Ewing wants to build https://vimeo.com/139608850" target="_blank">parking decks, a bus terminal and pedestrian trails over downtown train tracks. The project would stretch from Main to east of Elgin between First and Archer streets.
Ewing said the initial need is $25 million.
"It's at least a phase one," Ewing said. "Our idea is to start putting a master plan together for the overall project, to start leveraging federal dollars everywhere that we can and then to start implementing as much of phase one as we can."
The project would connect current and future attractions, such as a pop culture museum.
Ewing’s idea has strong support from several of his colleagues and downtown property owners. Downtown Coordinating Council Manager Tom Baker said the group endorses the idea because it could accommodate everything from bike sharing to passenger rail.
"Moving people around, giving them better opportunities to get in and out and around downtown, and with the concept that Councilor Ewing has brought forward, it just really draws all that together," Baker said.
INCOG Transportation Planner James Wagner said there are lots of opportunities for federal grants, including if Tulsa falls into nonattainment under proposed new EPA ozone standards.
"It's not a good thing to be a nonattainment area. There's lots of restrictions on what you can do to expand roadways, so that's the negative side of it," Wagner said. "But the potential is that you could use more of those funds to do transit-type projects like that."
Federal grants are usually around 10 million dollars. They’re awarded in cycles on a competitive basis, so it would be possible to get multiple grants for Ewing’s idea.
