A site near 51st Street missed the cut as a location for an Arkansas River low-water dam.
The area just north of the I-44 bridge was once under consideration. INCOG Executive Director Rich Brierre said a study classified it as a second-tier site, partly because of mostly industrial land use on the west bank.
"Components of the City of Tulsa south side waste water treatment as well as major industrial uses, and then you have the levee that actually, you know, when you're at the soccer complex, you don't even see the river because of the levee," Brierre said.
Tulsa’s river task force discussed sites that didn’t make the cut at its latest meeting after learning many people thought the dams would keep the river completely full.
The river master plan calls for a series of shallow lakes with sandbars between them, not for the river to be full of flowing water at all times. Brierre said it’s important to leave the area south of Zink Dam alone.
"As the consultations have occurred with Fish and Wildlife and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, that's a very rich habitat area, and every effort needs to be made to preserve and enhance that," Brierre said.
The site near 51st Street was also ruled out because the river is hard to see from Riverside Drive. Greenery screens much of the east bank from view.
