Cyrus Avery

Avery and the creation of a national highway system Shortly after WWI, Avery opened a proto-motel outside Tulsa. Avery soon realized that an interstate system of highways would help his adopted city and state prosper.

Good Roads Movement Impressed with Missouri's Good Roads Movement, Avery joined the Oklahoma Good Roads Association. He also served as president of the Albert Pike Highway Association from 1917 to 1927. He also began pushing for a statewide improvement of roads. He eventually became involved in the creation of the Ozarks Trails, a system of roads connecting St. Louis and Amarillo, Texas. After working with creating more roads, he was elected president of the Associated Highway Associations of America. In 1923, he was appointed to the Oklahoma State Highway Commission, where he implemented a gasoline tax to fund the highway department. Avery Drive, a street in southwest Tulsa, was named for him. and to organizations for noteworthy preservation projects.

In 2004, the City of Tulsa, Oklahoma renamed the Eleventh Street Bridge (which carried US 66 over the Arkansas River), the Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge in his honor. The detailed 135%-scale bronze depicts Avery stopping his Ford on the 11th Street Bridge as the vehicle frightened two horses pulling a wagon laden with oil barrels.