Extension Of Tulsa's Mingo Creek Bike Trail To Cost Nearly $1 Million

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- There are plans for a new bicycle trail in the City of Tulsa that is estimated will cost the city almost one million dollars for one mile. 

A combination of federal and city sales tax will pay for it with money designated only for alternative transportation projects.

It's an extension on the trail system that will run from 71st to 81st, right along U.S. Highway 169. 

The new funding will add at least a mile to Tulsa's already extensive network of bike and pedestrian trails, but it's expensive, an estimated $920,000 for one mile of trail.

Mingo Creek meanders through southeast Tulsa and it's both the namesake and general pathway for what's becoming a north south link for alternative transportation. 

The city of Tulsa will start soon building another mile of the Mingo Creek Trail. The new section will link to an existing trail on the south end at 81st street, near Tulsa Community College. 

The design will be the same, keeping trail users well separated from traffic.

"There are different classes of cyclists. There are those who are very comfortable riding alongside a car and they share the road as they're allowed under the law. And there are others who are uncomfortable riding alongside a car, and so this is an opportunity for them to use a different mode of transportation. I actually use this section up here," said Matt Liechti, City of Tulsa Engineer.

A total of $1.7 million in new funding is going into the Mingo Creek trails, both in new construction and design work for what's coming next. 

Because it's dedicated for alternative transportation, the city cannot spend it on anything else.

"A road, round numbers, a million dollars a lane mile and trail is basically a lane of road, where this is a straight section of road for a mile, where we're doing a mile of trail. We're actually going in excess of a mile, because we're wandering around, following the lay of the land," said Liechti.

The new trail will be designed to a federal standard, the middle range of trails in Tulsa. That's better than what was built in the past, but not quite as nice or expensive as the Kaiser standard - the kind of trails now being built in River Parks.