GREAT.

He will rip down every single hundred year old tree.

I know I'm fighting a losing battle here... but I despise new comments in ancient threads that are only loosely related to each other. Just sayin. :)

I think the private party businesses will insure success of this operation at least until legitimate attractions come online. Once there is real places to go on the river, then they might actually become a viable form of transportation for tourists and day trippers.

I'd love to use this corporate enthusiasm to get some landmark pedestrian bridges built as well. How cool would it be to light them up at night and take a cruise to view OKC's lighted bridges? I think when we often try and think of landmark attractions that could motivate tourism to OKC, we usually think in terms of size, but I think a nice series of unique bridges with cool design and lighting concepts would be unique and give Oklahoma City an instantly recognizable feature. How cool would it be to see establishing shots of our televised events showing these boats floating down the river under a light show provided by some bridges?

Our energy companies could use it as an opportunity for good will and power their sponsored bridges using different forms of alternative energy... We could have Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day parades on the river and dress up the bridges for the theme...

Ok, I've hi-jacked the thread enough. Carry on.

I love that idea. There won't be much to see along the river as it is now, but some cool nighttime lighting like what they have on the Lincoln bridge would be awesome on all of the bridges. It would be a unique attraction to take the OKC riverboat to see the lighted bridges at night.

Also we need to really encourage continuing the landscape the banks. I know they are working on it but with all this rain it would've been good to plant more. "Softening" the banks should be a priority, where the rocks are sloped more gently and plants and trees are planted amidst them. Right now it looks too much like a large drainage ditch. Something similar to the banks of Austin's Town Lake would be nice:
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff158/LoneStarMike/April%202008/TownLakeEast5.jpg

Beautiful...and we can do that.

not only can we do that, i think what is planned will exceed that for sure.... at least i hope so!

Man, have you guys seen the river today, it's high tide for sure.

I haven't seen the river today but was just wondering if this will affect the Olympic trials set for next week.

I'm sure we can talk to Canton lake on closing their locks, and then release the ones on the river on the far east to control the levels.

I hate it when it rains!! It always turns the river muddy looking... Damn red clay!!! It for sure doesn't look good for an olympic event.

Maybe we should take the name from the Red River and change from Oklahoma River to Red River.

Yeah it will take awhile for the river to clear up after this big rain. I was driving over Lake Thunderbird earlier today, a lake notorious for its red color, and it was redder than ever and very high. In fact all of the beaches were underwater from what I could see.

Maybe we should take the name from the Red River and change from Oklahoma River to Red River.

Nah that would be too far out of the comfort zone! It's the Oklahoma River, in Oklahoma County, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma! :dizzy:

Boy, we sure love "Oklahoma".

Is this a great place or what?

Well, i'm no Galen Culver.

Gets one to thinking, as we only renamed a few mile stretch of the North Canadian, I wonder why they didn't just rename that little stretch of water the Oklahoma City river ... was the sign too small for the extra letters or what?

Maybe we should take the name from the Red River and change from Oklahoma River to Red River.

The Red River is red all the time.

Imagine that.

Anyone know if there is any plan in place to extend the "lake" created by the dams in the Oklahoma River? Further east to NE 23rd? That is definitely a more scenic area, and the river could be twice as wide there. I would keep a boat in there if it was navigable from Meridian to Sooner Rd...

Sooner Road... yes, why does the river stop pretty much a little ways after Easter/MLK as far as water levels go? Too industrial? There is a lot of potential land opportunities and open space there... would help out the eastern side for sure, and help with Indian Museum....

I have thought about the same thing myself and I did a sketch awhile back. Why not connect Eagle Lake in Del City with the River to make a larger portion of the river that could be used for other water events, like wakeboarding, skiiing, etc. competions?

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/CuatrodeMayo/EagleLake.jpg

NOTE: the lake is the current width of the Oklahoma River in the bottom left corner.

Sooner Road... yes, why does the river stop pretty much a little ways after Easter/MLK as far as water levels go? Too industrial? There is a lot of potential land opportunities and open space there... would help out the eastern side for sure, and help with Indian Museum....

The water is still dammed up at the American Indian Cultural Center site.

I like Cuatro's plan. Did you submit that for Maps 3?

Yes.

Great plan! I like the idea of connecting the river to the existing lake in Del City creating a much larger "lake" with boating, water skiing, and wakeboarding possibilities. I would move the dam a little closer to NE 23rd though to take advantage of that space where the flood plain is wide enough, maybe even reroute NE 23rd over the dam? I like the idea of making NE 10th a signature bridge, that and NE 4th would be good connections to downtown. It would be a very visible "natural" feature that people would see on both I-40 and I-35. It would be nice to see the jogging/biking trails extended to this area as well.

I want to see it happen, this SHOULD be part of the Oklahoma River master plan!

Del City could also get rid of the ugly industrial area along Reno between the river and Sunnylane.

Trails could also connect, with exist and new OKC trails, to Del City parks and even MWC. Lake Hefner to MWC to Draper to Thunderbird to Norman, the possibilities are endless.

I love you guys, lol.

I love the idea CuatrodeMayo. Anything we can do to help back this idea, or at least show there are more people interested in it other than just you. I would like to back it to.

I love you guys, lol.

I love the idea CuatrodeMayo. Anything we can do to help back this idea, or at least show there are more people interested in it other than just you. I would like to back it to.

me too. I never thought of that Cuatrode .Very nice idea,maybe even a little small stretch of it could have sand.

Del City could also get rid of the ugly industrial area along Reno between the river and Sunnylane.

Trails could also connect, with exist and new OKC trails, to Del City parks and even MWC. Lake Hefner to MWC to Draper to Thunderbird to Norman, the possibilities are endless.

I know there is eventually plans to extend the jogging/biking trail in Norman (Legacy Trail) north from where it ends at Robinson up to I believe Tecumseh or Indian Hills Rd. along the tracks. It would be cool to see Moore get involved and then connect to the trail on their part of the tracks, and then see OKC do the same finally connecting this trail to the great system we now have along the banks of the Okla. River, and then eventually further east. That would be an awesome network of trails and really set OKC apart.

could make for some interesting times indeed. Nice idea CuatrodeMayo.

this is a lil off the current topic but i was driving by the boat house the other day looking at the I-40 progress and the boat hows and what not, i wasn't sure when the new boat houses are to begin being built and where exactly.... there is some construction going on just east of the ches. boat house not sure if that is just dirt being moved for I-40 for some reason or if its maybe boathouse work.....

anybody know anything about this?

the relocation of I-40 passes to the north of the CP boathouse, in between it and the south end of the BT canal.

i knnow where I-40 goes i was wondering where exactly the boathouses were goin and if they had started or plan on starting anytime soon

The OCU boathouse is going just east of the CBH, on the other side of Lincoln. I think i read something about them starting construction this fall, don't hold me to that though.

i knnow where I-40 goes i was wondering where exactly the boathouses were goin and if they had started or plan on starting anytime soon

Pete found some great info clik here (http://www.okctalk.com/okc-metro-area-talk/12369-boathouse-row-master-plan.html?highlight=boathouse)

Devon Energy to help fund boathouse for OCU | NewsOK.com (http://newsok.com/article/3234082/1208987022)

By The Associated Press

Devon Energy Corp. has pledged $5 million to complete the construction of a boathouse on the Oklahoma River that will house Oklahoma City University's rowing teams.

The Devon Boathouse will join the Chesapeake Boathouse and planned boathouses for the University of Oklahoma and the University of Central Oklahoma along the river near downtown Oklahoma City.

The $10 million Devon Boathouse should be completed by the fall of 2009. It will include a training center, indoor seating with views of the regatta finish line and an outdoor performing arts area. OCU's varsity rowing and sculling programs also will store its boats there.

OCU has hosted the Head of the Oklahoma Regatta in recent years and the river has developed into a top regatta venue.

I love how Devon & CHK seem to be trying to one-up each other not only in boathouses, but in corporate HQ's and civic boosterism.

$10 million is more than twice what CHK's cost.

I love the friendly competition. Makes OKC look good when you have corps footing bills on projects and not costing us a dime.

Pete, funny you mention that, I had an interesting conversation with "some influential people" that Devon tries hard to one up Chesapeake when it comes to downtown/river. Chesapeake even though suburban, got a several years headstart when it comes to the river development. Devon fought back with sponsoring the river taxis and now this OCU boathouse. Glad to see them battling it out while the oil economy is good. Keep it coming, my prediction is that this won't be the last major sponsorship with downtown/river development we'll see from them.

It's funny, I heard about this on Saturday but the person I got the info told me not to say anything. i think it is great how things are developing down there and I hope there are a couple of more Oklahoma companies that will sponsor the UCO and OU boathouses (Sonic boathouse anyone?)

So we'll have the Chesapeake (General Purpose) Boathouse, Devon (OCU) Boathouse, Aubrey McClendon (OU) Boathouse, what's next? The Larry Nichols (UCO) Boathouse? :D

So we'll have the Chesapeake (General Purpose) Boathouse, Devon (OCU) Boathouse, Aubrey McClendon (OU) Boathouse, what's next? The Larry Nichols (UCO) Boathouse? :D

The Bennett Boathouse. But, of course, he'll need public financing.

Clay Bennett has already pledged $1 million toward the OU boathouse.

Man it must be nice to throw that kind of money around and not worry about it...

Does anyone know what the colored lights under the new bridge next to the Rowing Center are for?
Thanks.

new bridge?

Lights are to give folks a reason to look at bridge supports at night ... rather pretty compared to the alternative really

my understanding (in addition to the pretty reason) is that the bridge was lighted to help the rowers for the "OGE Night Sprints." helps them differentiate the bridge posts during the race.

they are amazing - I think it is the Color Kinetics type that is programmable for probably a million formations. very forward thinking IMO.

Hey guys im here stationed in Florida can yall give me a update on the Oklahoma River . For example that cool boathouse rendering how is that coming along and what happen to the river boats that trolley up and down the river has that started yet ?

The riverboats have started. The boathouses have not.

^ have you or anyone else rode them yet I was thinking it must have been quite a "trip" on the 4th of July.


what's the prices of a trip and where does it orignate and stop ? this is one of the first things i plan on doing when i get back to the "Big Town"

I rode them. They did do a special 4th of July trip and sold out I heard. Normally they only run the "public" cruises in the daytime, with private outings in the evening. I think it was $10 or $15 for one way. What we did was ride from Regatta Park near Bricktown to the Meridian Landing. After eating lunch at Golden Palace, we got on the trolley for a free ride back to Regatta Park. Just make sure you get on a trolley that's headed BACK that way, not on it's way FROM there to loop around to all the Meridian hotels.

Nawfside,

Here is a link to their website, which gives you information on their individual cruises, times of departure and fares. I know they are working on putting together several "themed" cruises as part of an educational element about Oklahoma and Oklahoma City.

You can check everything out here: Oklahoma River Cruises (http://www.oklahomarivercruises.com/)

Here are the two new hotels going up on the river at Meridian Landing. I snapped these quick pics from my phone on Friday night:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2661794980_3fa8a37920.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3281/2661793816_b56fed3476.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/2661648738_3d9e1a30c5.jpg?v=0

Hey Metro. Do you know how close these hotels butt up to the river? I know this portion of the Oklahoma Rvr isn't doesn't have that ugly rocking on both sides. It looks like a river. Don't they have plans to landscape it?

They are within 30 feet of the river and there is no parking between the river and the building. They will probably put the pool area there.

Meridian landing - where is that?

Just about a block or two east of Meridian on SW 15th. It's a new riverpark area/ where they load/unload the new river cruiser boats and where these two hotels are going up as well.

Nawfside,

Here is a link to their website, which gives you information on their individual cruises, times of departure and fares. I know they are working on putting together several "themed" cruises as part of an educational element about Oklahoma and Oklahoma City.

You can check everything out here: Oklahoma River Cruises (http://www.oklahomarivercruises.com/)
thanks for the link maam they have nicely priced rates.On the website it said no swimming or diving off the vessel (man I was kinda planning on doing that ) yeah rite

By 2014, we should have these landmarks on the Oklahoma River. Great places for OKC vacationers to visit:

1. Native American Cultural Museum
2. Ferris Wheel
3. Chesapeake Boat Finish Line Tower

What else?

Doubt we see #2 by then. Could be wrong, but the economy better start improving a little quicker for Humphreys to start that development.