Michael Wallis: Save the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge

In a recent public letter, Michael Wallis, historian of Route 66, Oklahoma, and the American West, has called on Tulsa government leaders to keep the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge over the Arkansas River. Wallis was a member of the advisory committee that considered designs for a replacement for the bridge, but he urges preservation of the historic Midland Valley bridge

Wallis writes that Tulsa's apathy toward historic preservation was apparent even as he and his wife decided to make Tulsa their home in the early 1980s:

In 1980, while working as a Time-Life correspondent, I visited Tulsa and spent almost a week roaming the city. I was impressed by what I encountered.

Yet, I came away thinking more could be done to preserve Tulsa's past. It was apparent more attention was needed to highlight the Art Deco architecture, legendary Route 66 and the corridor along the Arkansas River.

Here's the saddest (and the most Tulsa) part of the letter:

At one of our sessions, I said that perhaps we should reconsider removing the pedestrian bridge, if only because of its historic significance.

In the end, however, the design was selected that some of us knew from the get-go would be chosen from the start.

This is an experience that countless Tulsa citizens have had on city boards and commissions or in public hearings. Their input is solicited and encouraged, but then promptly discarded, as Tina Nettles learned earlier this year when she and other backyard chicken owners tried to offer their expertise to the framers of a new animal ordinance.

The selected design was presented by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the firm that designed The Gathering Place for the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

Wallis concludes:

I still believe there is a place for the old bridge. We cannot save everything, but we must preserve at least examples of our past.

Hopefully, that can happen again.

To make that happen again, sign the petition to save the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge at pedbridge.com, then contact the Mayor's office and your city councilor and urge them to stop the demolition of the bridge.