Renderings Show Vision For Arkansas River Development

Tulsans can now get a look at what some of the possibilities are for development on the Arkansas River thanks to new renderings released by the River Task Force.

The beauty of the Arkansas River hasn't changed much in last few decades, but the possibilities are now visible.

New video released by the River Task Force shows a concept for a redesigned pedestrian bridge and the falls over a new Zink dam.

Some parts of the video are just concepts - like the possibilities for the west bank, what would be a privately led development - but other parts of the video are based on what's really in the plan.

River Task Force Chair, G.T. Bynum, said, “The dams are exactly the way they would look, the parks, especially here in Tulsa, are what they would look like and, most importantly, the lakes are what they would look like.”

Tulsa's vision task force is still nailing down the specifics of what else could be on the ballot, but the river project is sure to be in there.

The new pictures were meant to help illustrate the potential.

“Now, as we're ending the end of this process, we thought it would be helpful to take a step back and remind ourselves what this is all about,” Bynum said.

With the visuals and a $242 million estimate from the most thoroughly studied plan ever done on the river, the next step is to figure out who is going to pay for it.

"We will, at a future meeting, be breaking that down to different funding levels to see what Jenks might pay, what the City of Tulsa might pay, what the Creek Nation might pay and what Tulsa County might pay," Bynum said.

Tulsa's vision vote is planned for April. The council plans to make decisions on what's in that overall package by December 18th.