Buttigieg tours Greenwood, talks $10 million reconstruction

(TULSA, Okla.) U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was in Tulsa this week, highlighting tens of millions of dollars in transportation funding awarded to Oklahoma. 

Buttigieg stopped in Greenwood to talk about one of the biggest projects in the mix: a $10 million grant to reconstruct West 51st Street, including a connection under US-75, a new pedestrian bridge over the TSU Railroad, and a new connection to the Arkansas River Trail.

“The $10 million we are investing in West Tulsa will help reconnect and revitalize a community that was divided by the creation of US-75,” Buttigieg said. “The project will make it safer to walk, bike and drive, and increase affordable transportation choices for all. This means more residents will have better access to grocery stores, their regional library, outdoor recreation, and bus and bike access to jobs in downtown Tulsa.”

The West Tulsa project is a partnership between Oklahoma State DOT, City of Tulsa, FHWA, Indian Nations Council of Governments, Tulsa County, and the community. 

STORY CODE: RECONNECT

It is one of six in Oklahoma made possible thanks to $48.7 million dollars from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. 

Officials said this year’s total allocations nationwide include more than $2.2 billion thanks to President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides an additional $7.5 billion over five years for the program to help meet the strong demand to help projects get moving across the country.

“We are proud to support so many outstanding infrastructure projects in communities large and small, modernizing America’s transportation systems to make them safer, more affordable, more accessible, and more sustainable,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Using funds from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this year we are supporting more projects than ever before.”

Other Oklahoma projects benefiting from RAISE awards include:

$4 million for the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town to fund construction for interior and housing roads and walkways within the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town Headquarters and Service Centers. 

$7 million for the City of Wagoner to construct a multi-use path, a new reinforced concrete box culvert, build a sidewalk, street curbs and a side path, and build a trail underpass crossing of US 69. 

$16.2 for the Indian Nations Council of Governments to provide a multimodal trail system that separates bicycles and pedestrians from motorized traffic along the east and west banks of the Arkansas River. 

Find a full list of all of the projects and their details here. 

RAISE funding is split between rural area projects and urban area projects. 

Officials said nearly two-thirds of projects are located in areas of persistent poverty or historically disadvantaged communities.