Route 66 neon sign park in Tulsa planned for late 2019

The Route 66 Commission in Tulsa announced Wednesday a small neon-sign park is planned on the southwest side of Avery Centennial Plaza, also known as the historic 11th Street Bridge that once carried Route 66.

In a Facebook post late Wednesday, the commission stated it would install three re-created neon signs in Tulsa that were lost or destroyed after Route 66 was decommissioned — the Will Rogers Motor Court, Tulsa Auto Court, and Oil Capital Motel.

The commission, in a text Thursday, stated it wanted those three signs to represent east Tulsa, west Tulsa and the Admiral Place sections of Route 66. The Will Rogers Motor Court sat on Tulsa’s east side, the Oil Capital Motel stood on the west side, and the Tulsa Auto Court operated on Admiral Place.

Alas, the piece of land is too small to include more than those three signs.

The commission stated it hopes to have the neon-sign park installed by late 2019. The project will be funded with Vision 2025 sales-tax funds that were approved by voters in 2003. It is the last remaining Vision 2025 project for Route 66 in Tulsa County.

The plan for the neon park came from a January 2017 open forum. The neon-sign park was the most popular idea from residents at the meeting, followed by a water-wall park showing the history of Route 66, overlook for the 11th Street Bridge, and parking.

The neon-sign park also would be complementary to the Route 66 Experience, which is slated to break ground any time, on the other side of the 11th Street Bridge.

(Conceptual images of the proposed neon-sign park by the Route 66 Commission of Tulsa via Facebook)

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