BRANCHING OUT
Landscaping plans set for Oklahoma City Boulevard
Planting and landscaping along the east and west segments of the Oklahoma City Boulevard is set to begin this winter as plans continue to turn the corridor into a gateway for downtown.
Both segments are open to traffic, and design work is being done by CLS and Associates. The middle segment of the boulevard between E.K. Gaylord Boulevard and Western Avenue is being drawn up by Howard Fairbairn Site Design.
The $2 million project plans approved Tuesday by the Oklahoma City Council will add hundreds of trees along the boulevard, coinciding with the planting of 1,000 trees along the adjoining Scissortail Park and another 1,000 along the nearby Oklahoma River.
Completion of the two segments — one from S Walnut Avenue to E.K. Gaylord Boulevard, and the other from Pennsylvania to Western avenues — represents what city planners anticipate will be a major
entry into downtown.
“The big thing is since those areas are going to be the main entries into downtown, we really want to step it up in terms of quality of landscaping for those gateways,” Parks Director Doug Kupper said. “There has been a lot of discussion on what that means and how do we want to welcome visitors to our city.”
Officials will plant 154 trees on the east segment, which passes just south of Lower Bricktown, while 239 trees will be planted along the west segment.
The east segment will
consist of flowering crape myrtles, Eastern red cedar trees and meadow-style plants. The west segment will include a mix of shade trees, evergreen Arizona cypress and meadow-style plants to match those on the east entry. Designers with CLS and Associates reported to the city council the meadow-style plantings will emulate native prairie, but “with more enhanced color.”
“This is a new design theme being implemented in select areas around the country, such as Chicago’s Millennium Park and New York City’s High Line Park,” the designers wrote. “This design theme is especially appropriate because of Oklahoma City’s native grasslands and prairies.”
As part of the studies leading up to final designs, Kupper said careful consideration has been given to how the median plantings will hold up with traffic, street surface heat, ice melt and Oklahoma’s harsh weather extremes. Sustainability, inexpensive maintenance and effective irrigation are among the considerations emphasized in planning. The final landscaping plan for the middle segment will be presented as work wraps up between E.K. Gaylord and Western Avenue. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is building the boulevard along the former alignment of Interstate 40, which was relocated a few blocks south.
The road is scheduled to be completed next year.
The boulevard has long been promoted as not just a new entry to downtown but also a connector for the future Scissortail Park, convention center and 605-room Omni Hotel.
The middle section is set to take on the feel of downtown streets rebuilt the past few years as part of Project 180, which itself played into planning for the boulevard.
“Project 180 has been a wonderful test product on how the plants react to the heat,” Kupper said. “You can end up with reflected heat, and we’ve learned a lot from that. We’ve also learned a lot from the plantings around the Myriad Gardens.”