Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols said the city would “behoove ourselves” to talk about modifying or removing a section of Interstate 244 that crosses over the Greenwood neighborhood.
The mayor made those comments shortly after announcing a major reparations plan Sunday. That effort will open a $105 million charitable trust aimed at addressing the legacy of harms from the 1921 Race Massacre.
Nichols said there are alternatives to the current highway the city could consider, like what has been done in Dallas.
“I go to Dallas quite a bit. The Klyde Warren Park is actually built across an interstate that you don’t even know you’re walking across,” Nichols said. “It’s not crazy to think that cities do these kind[s] of things.”
Greenwood did rebuild after the events of 1921. But advocates have attributed the long-term decline of the neighborhood, known as “Black Wall Street,” to the construction of I-244 which began in the late 1960s.
Many have called for the highway’s removal, including Edward Ross, the brother of the late Race Massacre researcher J. Kavin Ross. Edward Ross told KWGS in 2023 he would like to see the highway removed.
“Knock that expressway down,” Ross said at the time. “That overpass sits on top of my great-grandfather’s restaurant.”
Regarding any change to I-244, Nichols said the city has “no plans on what that could look like.”
Tulsa’s North Peoria Church of Christ was awarded a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2023 to study removing Greenwood’s section of the highway.
The mayor said he hasn’t heard of any results from that project.
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KWGS' Max Bryan contributed to this report.
