TULSA, Okla. — On Wednesday a ribbon cutting is taking place at Route 66 Village Station in west Tulsa for its new visitor center.
It has been built to look like a vintage Phillips 66 gas station with red gas pump replicas. It features restrooms and visitor information inside the building and a few short-term parking spots.
The visitor center was built with $550,000 from Improve our Tulsa sales tax project.
This will be an addition to the station's restored trains, passenger cars, a caboose and an oil derrick.
Ken Busby, CEO of the Route 66 Alliance, says this visitor center will help the overall vision of revamping the "Mother Road" to continue attracting local and international visitors.
"We hope we're getting businesses doing great things, exciting things and really seeing the development potential of Route 66, so our work is really only beginning," says Busby.
The visitor center is part of a bigger city-wide effort in promoting all 26 miles of Route 66 that expand Tulsa. The City started installing historical markers in mid-October along different parts of the road with a map, a photo and short summary of each location.
There are 29 markers in total, and city officials say they have all but one up that will be installed this weekend. The markers were also part of a city sales tax, Vision 2025, for capital improvements.
Also, last November, a new "Route 66 Rising" sculpture was put in place at the Avery Traffic Circle at East Admiral Place and Mingo Road. This project was also part of Vision 2025.
The ribbon cutting for the Route 66 Village Station visitor center will take place at 4 p.m. with Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, District 2 Councilor Jeannie Cue and Lieutenant Governor Matt Pinnell in attendance.
The station is located at 3770 Southwest Boulevard, Tulsa.
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