GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS trip
Oct. 4-11 2014
PART 2
West on I-244 (the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Expressway) in Tulsa. I-244 goes through town while I-44 bypasses central Tulsa on the south. One thing I'll always remember about Tulsa is what Casey Kasem taught me: The Gap Band (the popular R&B group) was an acronym for 3 streets in Tulsa - Greenwood, Archer, and Pine.
I-244 continues to central Tulsa.
I-244 here also carries US 412 - known for giving Roads Scholars a case of the bunks because it's nowhere near US 12 and therefore doesn't fit the U.S. route numbering plan.
A view of downtown Tulsa from I-244. The tallest building in Tulsa - the one at center left - is the BOK Tower, completed in 1975.
Another look at downtown Tulsa. The arena at right was of course funded with a sales tax hike.
I-244 has lost US 412. The reference to US 75 north is actually I-444 - which is unsigned (though it was once signed).
Looking down the Arkansas River from I-44, you see the 71st Street Bridge.
Peoria Avenue in Tulsa. Notice that OK 66 uses I-44 around the city. US 66 once used it too OMG LOL SBD!
I have some nighttime photos from the Roads Scholar Summit! We met up with a very well-known and respected Roads Scholar from the Internet. And of course we Scholared. This is south on Peoria.
We're on the 96th Street Bridge, which crosses the Arkansas River on the south side of Tulsa to Jenks, Okla. What's interesting though is the older bridge on the right, which you see here...
That is the bridge that the 96th Street Bridge replaces. This type of bridge is called a pony truss. This 1948 span is now open only as a pedestrian bridge but it used to carry OK 11.
Looking north from the bridge. The tall buildings at center right are the CityPlex Towers, constructed by Oral Roberts University (Ned Flanders's alma mater). This is the facility for which Roberts said God would "call him home" if he didn't raise millions of dollars from followers. Though construction of this complex began in 1979, some floors are still unfinished.
These are the remnants of the piers for a 1909 bridge that the 1948 span replaced. Part of the 1909 bridge was moved to a mobile home park.
A deer statue at the east end of the bridge.
West on Aquarium Drive in Jenks as it becomes B Street.
A nighttime view of downtown Tulsa.
After our Roads Scholar Summit, we continued to Oklahoma City.
The blue sculpture over I-40 in Oklahoma City was inspired by the state bird. The sculpture's color can be changed remotely.
This has to be in Geary, Okla.
This too would be in Geary.
US 281/OK 8 crosses the South Canadian River via this long pony truss bridge.
I-40 near Weatherford, Okla. Old US 66 makes yet another appearance at right. Ol' Ron McDon is assuming a rather interesting pose on that billboard. The way he's sitting looks like a 1970s teenage stoner sitting on the floor listening to a big stack of records with their headphones with their eyes closed.
A rail bridge over old US 66.