The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

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Goes to the stigma of north Tulsa....   see grocery thread.....

In a nutshell, most Tulsans think North Tulsa is black, unemployed or minimum wage, drug addicts or dealers, ungrateful welfare cheats and illiterate.  With that attitude not much development is ever going to occur until you hit Owasso/Collinsville. We shorted ourselves the same way out west by letting Sapulpa annex areas we should have. Currently the only interest in the Gilcrease expressway through northwest Tulsa is by politicians and landowners in that area. Some say they are one and the same.

Hell, we can't even pay our electric bills to keep expressway lights on. We got no business expanding past our grasp.

You guys are over-thinking this and adding demographic bias to your answers. Yes, population density and income are factors, but the problems you infer are probably minor concerns to a shopping center developer compared to other factors.

I believe the biggest factor is simply the number of vehicles that travel that road each day.

The Tulsa Hills part of Highway 75 has over 50,000 vehicles per day.
The Owasso stretch of 169 highway at 66th St North has almost 55,000 cars per day.

The number of cars on highway 75 at 66th St North is 32,800 cars per day.

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/aadtcnt/map.aspx?map=Tulsa%20%20County

Doesn't 169 go directly from North Tulsa to Owasso? The Port Road will take you right from the more populated areas of North Tulsa right to 169. While 75 doesn't go directly into Owasso it does go right next to Owasso, take any exit between 66th and 106th and drive east a few miles.

Tulsa attempted to annex some more land to the north (the city limit ends pretty quickly) for the purpose of developing a retail area. The attempts to annex failed so Owasso built Smith Farm Marketplace.

I used to live in north Tulsa and still have many friends who live there. Both of my children go to school in north Tulsa as well. I will have to ask them where they go to shop.

I suspect the Wal-Mart at Admiral and Memorial is one of the answers. There is also a grocery at Pine and Harvard.

I tried to shop at  the grocery at Pine and Peoria before it closed, but they had such a poor selection that it made it difficult. The nearby fast food places seem to do well. The Popeye's chicken is always packed and the Sonic nearby does a brisk business. They just opened a Taco Bell in that shopping center as well to go with a Subway and a Little Caesar's Pizza.

There may be little or no retail development along US75, but housing is going in quickly. There are several just west of Owasso and several more along 75 as far north as SH20. From the air, it looks like someone flew over sprinkling house seeds. As more people move into area residences, expect that business will follow. As Michael pointed out, the numbers aren't there yet, but that will change.

Just east of Cherokee Industrial Park, the new Macys distribution center is under construction. There's a thread on that in here somewhere.

I traveled to Bartlesville a few times this summer and was surprised by a few things.

1. Bartlesville is 33 minutes from Downtown Tulsa. That is much, much closer than I realized.

2. Highway 75 is a much busier highway than you would expect.

3. Tons upon tons of new suburban houses along this corridor. It made me wonder if commute times are having people move to north of Tulsa instead of south.

I hope so or it will get even worse out here at 111th & Memorial.

On a side note, try taking old US75 (basically Memorial Drive)

I have looked at a lot of old maps.  I don't remember seeing US75 come as far south as 111th & Memorial.  It may have been coincident with Memorial farther north.
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/
Take a look.  I may have missed something.

How do you speak for all residents of north Tulsa?

I drive this highway twice a day and often stop at Pine/Peoria for gas. Most of the traffic leaves or joins the highway at H11 from/to the airport.

I think the only places for commercial development are where 75 meets Pine/Peoria or North Lewis or Apache. Anything further north doesn't seem sustainable. Also, our water treatment plant and Lake Yahola are between 46th and 56th Streets north and I'm not sure I would want any heavy retail close to our drinking water...there is already a giant landfill just a few blocks away which doesn't seem like good planning.

I love driving around North Tulsa, it really is one of the most scenic parts of the city.

I thought Memorial was highway 64?

I think north of Admiral at one time it was Hwy 75 as Admiral was Hwy 75 as well.

Out south it is.  Up north, it aligns with Memorial up in the Vera and Ramona area.

It is south of the Creek Turnpike until it turns east around 171st.

I remember 64 being on Memorial south of the BA until 169 was finished to Memorial.

It looks more like what's left of Memorial edges over to the west to join 75.
http://goo.gl/maps/UmgEI

Here's one account of US75 fro downtown Tulsa east to the traffic circle, and then north through Owasso. Perhaps that was the 1927 alignment but I really don't know. I usually begin on Memorial at 76th and go north. Really, if you stay on the Portland cement, you can't help but follow the old road.

http://okhighways.wkinsler.com/us75tul-can.htm (http://okhighways.wkinsler.com/us75tul-can.htm)

Very interesting.
Yea, 75 isn't with 2 miles of Memorial north of Tulsa so I was lost.

Thanks for the info all!