Crews Clear Large Homeless Camp Near Downtown Tulsa

A large homeless camp just outside downtown Tulsa is now gone.

Crews spent Monday clearing brush and makeshift shelters along the railroad behind the new U.S.A. BMX Headquarters.

If you look past holes cut in the chain-link fencing just southeast of the Oklahoma State University Tulsa campus, you can make out the tattered remains of what was a large makeshift campsite.

The tents and blankets have been there for several weeks, but on Monday, demolition crews cut into the wooded area on both sides of the train tracks that run through it. It pushed most of the man-made debris into a pile by the fence.

The City of Tulsa said the land is owned by the South Kansas Oklahoma Railroad company, which is owned by another company called Watco. A team of workers wearing the Watco logo on safety vests walked alongside a small bulldozer and backhoe as the machines pulled scrap metal and broken tree limbs into piles.

At one point a few Tulsa police officers walked into the brush and came back out with a man that was on the railroad's property.

The Salvation Army's Tulsa headquarters said it is still working to find out the exact number of people who lived there and the number of people who may now be looking for a new place to stay.

The Salvation Army said typically, they work with landowners to move people out of restricted property and into more sustainable housing before work is done to tear down makeshift shelters.

News on 6 reached out to the railroad company several times about the work but has not heard back yet