Some Tulsans frustrated with 91st Street widening project

Some people who live on 91st Street between Memorial and Mingo in Tulsa are frustrated with the city’s road widening project.

They say the city is destroying the environment by cutting down and burning trees in order to expand the road.

THE PROJECT

The City of Tulsa says that stretch of 91st Street between Memorial and Mingo will be expanded to five lanes and include bike lanes and sidewalks.

It’s part of a $12.8 million Improve Our Tulsa project.

For more information on the project, click here.

RESIDENT FRUSTRATIONS

Grace Shelton and Barbara Fees live in the neighborhoods off of 91st Street and they believe the city is burning down too many trees as part of its road widening project.

"They said they would save as many trees as possible, and as you can see, there's a lot of trees that have been removed,” said Shelton. “It's really upsetting to us. They're taking away beauty, they're taking away environment, they're taking away our safety as well.”

"Our choice on homes was mainly because of this wonderful green belt behind our house,” said Fees. “It's so sad to see that it is slowly being destroyed."

They are concerned about breathing in smoke and the area’s wildlife not having a habitat.

"It's upsetting with the burn pits they've done,” said Shelton. “There's burn pits, and we've had ash all over our cars, people have been breathing in the smoke. We've heard that people are going to have to change out their filters, refrigerators sometimes don't work right."

"Our yard was full of wildlife this morning,” said Fees. “We hadn't seen that in months and months, because they stay in the trees. But the trees now, and the noise, and all of this, has driven them out."

Both feel they were left out of the loop when it comes to this project.

"I understand expansion is part of what has to happen, but this seems to be more than what needs to happen,” said Shelton. “We were told they would not do as much as they've already done. I guess, also, my question is, how much more are they going to do?"

"If your area has not experienced this, heads up,” said Fees. “Because we had no heads up. We had a meeting, with promises, promises, and the trees, as many as possible, will be salvaged. But they forgot to tell the bulldozer I think."

CITY RESPONSE

Ryan McKaskle, the Field Engineering Manager for the City of Tulsa, says trees have to be cleared out past just the side of the road to allow for a retention pond.

"With the floodplain down in this area, and in order to widen the road to help with congestion, we're having to raise the road, widen it out, and in doing so, we're having to add compensatory storage to the floodplain,” said McKaskle.

The city says once the project is done, it will work on plans to replant some of the trees that were cut down.

"Obviously, with it being part of the flood area, we don't want to have any trees down there,” said McKaskle. “It needs to be able to free flow. But up along the banks, maybe out here toward the roadway or back on the other side on the back where we're doing some of the channel grading."

He says this project is needed because of traffic congestion in this area.

"With the hospitals right down the way, and in the early morning, and the afternoon rush hour, a lot of times you have a steady stream of cars that limits the ability for people to get in and out, making left hand turns or even right hand turns,” said McKaskle.

He says it’s important to make sure if you are driving through this construction zone, to put your phone away and follow the posted 25 mph speed limit.

END DATE

The project is expected to be complete in January of 2027.