And when it comes to breaking up the connection between the Pearl/KW/11th and downtown, it has to be said that Oaklawn Cemetery is very inconveniently located. Talk about dead space! (I'm sorry.) But seriously, the raised IDL may created a great big barrier into downtown, but Tracy Park, Oaklawn, and Centennial Park sure don't help either. At least two of those could conceivably be replaced one day. You'll never see a cemetery get dug up and developed.
Incorporating old cemeteries back into the city in a respectful way is a big urban planning challenge....
But yeah, whoever thought it was a good idea to put Texas-sized elevated interstate exchanges at all four corners of downtown and surround it with an elevated ring road......... if they were an urban planner I hope they were taken out back like a rabid dog.
I'm still amazed that that the southern leg of the IDL was built in the 1980s?
The highway revolts that stopped urban interstate construction in most places had already happened (Boston's Inner Belt, NYC's Lower Manhattan Expressway, New Orleans' Riverfront Expressway). I would give a significant portion of my left foot to have those Tulsa neighborhoods back.