(PROJECT) A Gathering Place For Tulsa

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

City in discussions with Gathering Place to construct pedestrian bridge over Arkansas River

Nearly four years have passed since city officials began talking about building a new pedestrian bridge across the Arkansas River.

Of course, they haven't just been talking amongst themselves. Every step of the way, the George Kaiser Family Foundation has been at the table — or at least in the room — along with other key stakeholders. The foundation, after all, is building a Gathering Place, the $400 million park that will connect to the bridge.

And now, according to Mayor G.T. Bynum, the city is discussing the possibility of creating a partnership with the Gathering Place that would give it responsibility for constructing the bridge.



"We have had those conversations at kind of a high level about what it would look like, or could look like," Bynum said. "But at the same time, no decision has been made on whether or not we're going to pull the trigger on that approach or just stay with it from a city standpoint.

"Ultimately, it's going to come down to River Parks Authority deciding if that is something they want to take on."

Bynum's remarks come two weeks after Nick Doctor, the city's chief of community development and policy, stated that the city's only conversations regarding the bridge had been with River Parks.

Doctor later clarified his remarks in an email to the World, saying GKFF and other stakeholders have been part of the pedestrian bridge discussions since the beginning. Bynum also addressed the confusion, noting the Gathering Place's relationship with River Parks Authority.

"The Gathering Place is a subsidiary of River Parks, so anything that we are moving forward on, that is an agreement that needs to be done with River Parks," the mayor said.

Jeff Stava, executive director and trustee of Gathering Place LLC, said Friday that he welcomed the discussions.

"I do feel this is a good move by the city of Tulsa asking River Parks and the Gathering Place to lead construction on this bridge," Stava said. "I feel we will get a great design. It will marry well and seamlessly with the park both from a design perspective and a construction perspective."

Bynum said the capital projects agreement being discussed with the Gathering Place is no different than agreements the city has signed with Tulsa County, Gilcrease Museum and the Air National Guard to oversee Vision Tulsa projects. The city has $23.2 million available for the pedestrian bridge, including $15 million from Vision Tulsa.

"You have to understand that we are implementing simultaneously the largest streets program in the history of the city and the largest economic development capital program in the history of the city, and we're doing all of that without having increased our engineering staff at the city," Bynum said.

"So when we can find local partners, and more often than not the people who are going to actually be the end users, to operate the facility who can assist with the development of the project, then we want to explore partnering with them."

River Parks Authority is an eight-member public trust that oversees a staff of 12 full-time and nine part-time employees, seven of whom are park patrol workers. The authority's annual budget is approximately $2 million. In 2014, GKFF gifted the Gathering Place to the authority, and as part of that agreement created a separate public board to oversee the park.

Bynum said it was only natural that the city would consider partnering with the Gathering Place, given its experience and expertise in constructing the park.

"They (the Gathering Place) already have on-the-ground experience — a couple of years now under their belt — at this site, and they're going to know better than anybody in the world how this can and should be integrated into the park," the mayor said.

The city initially planned to rehabilitate the 100-year-old-plus pedestrian bridge and add a second deck in time for the opening of the Gathering Place this summer. That idea was scrapped in 2014 after an inspection uncovered deficiencies in the bridge, which spans the river at approximately 29th Street and Riverside Drive.

The city then worked with Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the firm that designed the Gathering Place, and park officials for more than a year on a bridge design, but none of the six concepts gained unanimous support.

Soon after taking office, Bynum announced a public design competition. Ultimately, the Gateway Bridge design proposed by MVVA on behalf of the Gathering Place was selected as the winner.

The bridge design finalists were asked to come up with two final designs: one that could be built within the city's $24.5 million budget, and one that could be built for $35 million.

The city's latest cost estimates for a basic bridge design range from $24.4 million to $25.9 million.

The city hopes to find private donors who can pay for the wooden decking, shading, vegetation and other amenities that were part of MVVA's $35 million bridge design.

Stava said the Gathering Place has not been asked to fill the funding gap.

"And they have not asked us to fund-raise for the gap," he said.

Bynum, meanwhile, stressed that in agreeing to partner with outside entities to manage Vision Tulsa projects, the city is not abdicating its authority over them.

"At the end of the day, the city of Tulsa is the one who went out to the citizens of Tulsa and said we need funding to do X, Y and Z ..." Bynum said. "So our team at the city has to have confidence that the project is going to be done in keeping with what we told the citizens it would be.

"We have that clear responsibility."

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/gatheringplace/city-in-discussions-with-gathering-place-to-construct-pedestrian-bridge/article_4d5ba9ce-3416-5183-9e4b-3b14e7019882.html

[patric]

Is the bottom pic street lighting since TGP or was that before?  I'm assuming this is near the 41st St. light?

TurismoDreamin indicated between 41st and 36th street, new over-spec'd high-color-temperature LED lights and poles.

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/index.php?topic=18723.msg314002#msg314002

Tulsa has made a lot of progress in the past decade towards better street lighting, this would be the opposite.

[cannon_fodder]

So what I'm hearing... is no pedestrian bridge for the foreseeable future.  Can we not go back to using the old bridge until we are ready to put in a new one?  Or was the bridge so unsafe we shouldn't have been using it at all and just didn't know?

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

So what I'm hearing... is no pedestrian bridge for the foreseeable future.  Can we not go back to using the old bridge until we are ready to put in a new one?  Or was the bridge so unsafe we shouldn't have been using it at all and just didn't know?

The entrance to it has been dismantled (quite a significant section) and that would be expensive/wasteful to temporarily reconnect. It was deemed unsafe also.

In hindsight, making the repairs and putting in upgrades might've been the better route as it already provides a lot of what people wanted (shade, hang out areas), but I don't think that was a great/cheap option either and was too narrow.

[Conan71]

The entrance to it has been dismantled (quite a significant section) and that would be expensive/wasteful to temporarily reconnect. It was deemed unsafe also.

In hindsight, making the repairs and putting in upgrades might've been the better route as it already provides a lot of what people wanted (shade, hang out areas), but I don't think that was a great/cheap option either and was too narrow.

Kind of like how Tulsa County created another Fairgrounds parking lot demolished Driller's Stadium before they had a signed contract with USA BMX.

One more useful and functional structure gone because someone(s) jumped the gun.  We apparently are still very much the Sooner state for those who know the lore behind that nickname.

[shavethewhales]

So what I'm hearing... is no pedestrian bridge for the foreseeable future.  Can we not go back to using the old bridge until we are ready to put in a new one?  Or was the bridge so unsafe we shouldn't have been using it at all and just didn't know?

As we've discussed on here before, the bridge was found to be terribly unsafe. The concrete piers are barely held together and are way beyond fixing. The whole thing could come crashing down at any time.

Nobody "jumped the gun" by taking out the access. In fact, it should have been addressed long ago.

[rebound]

As we've discussed on here before, the bridge was found to be terribly unsafe. The concrete piers are barely held together and are way beyond fixing. The whole thing could come crashing down at any time.

Nobody "jumped the gun" by taking out the access. In fact, it should have been addressed long ago.

Sooo...  why does the West side still allow access?  Unless it has changed in just the last few weeks, I rode my bike all the way across (to the dead end) from the West side not long ago.   No debating your point, as I have heard that before, just wondering why it's still open on that end.

[TeeDub]

Sooo...  why does the West side still allow access?  Unless it has changed in just the last few weeks, I rode my bike all the way across (to the dead end) from the West side not long ago.   No debating your point, as I have heard that before, just wondering why it's still open on that end.

Apparently only the portion over riverside was "dangerous."


The 78-year-old bridge is crumbling and a danger to drivers. The city's engineer said a few weeks ago a piece of concrete broke off and busted a driver's windshield.
http://www.newson6.com/story/28203310/demolition-of-riverside-pedestrian-bridge-first-of-many-upcoming-detours

[SXSW]

They should've let the Gathering Place take control of the bridge from the beginning so they could have it open when the park opens.  Now it sounds like it is at least 2 years away from being finished.

[Conan71]

Apparently only the portion over riverside was "dangerous."


The 78-year-old bridge is crumbling and a danger to drivers. The city's engineer said a few weeks ago a piece of concrete broke off and busted a driver's windshield.
http://www.newson6.com/story/28203310/demolition-of-riverside-pedestrian-bridge-first-of-many-upcoming-detours

My recollection also was only the concrete bridge portion over the roadway.  The bridge had access from the trail adjacent to the span which went over the river.

If the bridge piers were in such bad shape, I don't recall anything ever being said about that when they did dam repairs a few years back an my personally recollection is I never remember seeing crumbling of concrete either looking down from the bridge deck nor from the water level in a rowing shell when I used to row with TRC.

[shavethewhales]

In a presentation I attended several months back, someone speaking about the gathering place (I can't remember the presenter at this point) discussed the bridge and said that they found that the piers were basically gravel held together by steel rebar cages and the most recent outer layer of concrete shell. Maybe he was off-base, but he made it sound like it was about to collapse. I am surprised it is not completely closed off.

[Vision 2025]

There is a history of issues with the bridge piers.  During the original Low Water Dam construction in 1982 or 83-ish when the area was dewatered the piers were found to be highly eroded and in need of significant repair.  As a new contract administrator I wrote the Changer Order for the dam contractor to do the work... 

[SXSW]

There is a history of issues with the bridge piers.  During the original Low Water Dam construction in 1982 or 83-ish when the area was dewatered the piers were found to be highly eroded and in need of significant repair.  As a new contract administrator I wrote the Changer Order for the dam contractor to do the work... 

Interesting, and kind of scary that the bridge has been so heavily used since then with multiple high water events probably making things worse. 

Do you know the latest on the ped bridge from a Vision/City perspective?  It sounds like from the article the city wants to partner with GKFF/The Gathering Place to help build it, perhaps as part of the Phase 2 construction of the park.  That would be great to have the opening of the bridge and low water dam improvements coincide with the opening of Phase 2 including the new children's museum.

[sgrizzle]

The new dam may take what is left of the bridge in it's wake (pun intended). The dam construction should start at the end of this year and take two years. The work on the two are highly related.

I was told that certain entities had previously volunteered to cover any overages in a high level discussion, it appears CoT is asking them to make good now.

FYI, Gathering Place Grand Opening tentatively Sept 9th. Riverside Drive opening will actually likely be several weeks AFTER that.

[SXSW]

The new dam may take what is left of the bridge in it's wake (pun intended). The dam construction should start at the end of this year and take two years. The work on the two are highly related.

I was told that certain entities had previously volunteered to cover any overages in a high level discussion, it appears CoT is asking them to make good now.

FYI, Gathering Place Grand Opening tentatively Sept 9th. Riverside Drive opening will actually likely be several weeks AFTER that.

Only about a year behind schedule   

Question, is the playground area open to the public?  I know school kids were able to check it out but wasn't sure if that was restricted access or not.