The City of Tulsa is amending rules for its Route 66 neon sign grant program after several were fabricated and installed without neon tubing.
According to News on 6 in Tulsa, those without neon were The Capital of Route 66, Big Dipper Creamery and Anybody’s Guest signs.
The signs were made with a newer manufacturing practice of molded embossed material lit from behind, that mimics tubing, while traditional neon uses glass tubes lit from within, mounted above the surface of the sign. The new requirements allow for glass tubes lighted from within by LED filament, or traditional neon gas.
Tulsa Route 66 Commission Chairman (and City Councilor) Chris Bengel said the City had no intention of trying to recoup the funding, since the applications and awards were done in good faith, and the requirements unclear, while the technology had changed enough to mimic neon but not meet the spirit of the original purpose for the grants.
The Commission is updating the specifications, and requiring more complete drawings of proposed signs, before awarding new grants. Several applications were rejected in early February because they were not the glass tube design.
Since the neon sign grant program went into effect in 2019, more than 70 signs have been restored or created, greatly improving the look of Tulsa’s Route 66 corridor. The grant covers 50% of the cost of such signs.
(Image of neon tubing by Jeroen Eifferich via Flickr)