The Cherokee Hills Byway was officially opened Saturday, in a dedication ceremony in Tahlequah, and is expected to attract economic endeavors and visitors to the area.
Courtesy of Cherokee Nation
The 88-mile byway runs from Tahlonteeskee, the original Cherokee Courthouse on U.S. Highway 64 in Sequoyah County, through Gore, and north on State Highways 10 and 82 into Tahlequah. North of Tahlequah, the byway continues on Highway 10 along the Illinois River up to Kansas in Delaware County and then turns east on Highway 59 to West Siloam Springs.
The Cherokee Nation Commerce Department submitted the byway plan to ODOT with the purpose of raising Cherokee Nation cultural awareness and creating economic development in the communities along highway that runs through Sequoyah, Cherokee, Adair and Delaware counties.
Donna Tinnin of Cherokee Nation Community Tourism Development and Planning, said, “We began the designation process in 2006 in order to promote economic development for the byway communities.”
Tinnin said the Cherokee Nation had to apply to ODOT, which heads the byway program, for the designation.
“The application process was quite extensive,” she said. “The actual route had to be established and an inventory of the intrinsic qualities of a byway had to be developed.”
Those qualities include demonstrating roadways of outstanding merit; significant intrinsic qualities including scenic, recreational, archeological, natural, cultural and historic; sufficient length to reward traveler; meet user safety criteria; and provide interpretive information for the traveler.
Tinnin said Oklahoma has eight byways, most of which are designated as scenic. The nation has several Native American byways, she added.
“The America’s Byways Resource Center even has a person who is appointed to work with tribes,” she added.
To support the scenic byway economic thesis, analysis sponsored by The National Scenic Byway Resource Center of the Quantifying the Economic Impacts of Scenic Byway Designation research report, which included 21 byway impact studies on the economic impact of scenic byways, found that based on one study for three byways, an increase in annual traffic of 3.4 percent to 20 percent due to byway designation was experienced; in six of the 21 byway studies, 19 to 33 jobs were created per $1 million of visitor spending; and one study found that visitor group spending per trip to be valued at $104.
ODOT and University of Oklahoma Outreach will officially oversee the Cherokee Hills Byway program including support for the selected roads, promoting the communities and preserving irreplaceable resources.
As official sponsors the Cherokee Nation will continue to develop the Cherokee Hills Byway with master planning and community development, which will benefit cities lining the byway including Oaks, Marble City, Gore, Cookson, Keys, Kansas, West Siloam Springs and Tahlequah, capital city of the Cherokee Nation.
Tinnin explained, “Since the slogan of the byway program is ‘Community Driven, Community Led,’ the communities along the byway and in the byway corridor can decide what improvements they would like. They are free to apply for grants from the Federal Highway Administration to achieve these goals as well. The role of the Cherokee Nation is to sponsor the byway for the communities. The Cherokee Nation has applied for grant money to do comprehensive master planning, interpretive programs and marketing. We will be telling the Cherokee story as the travelers visit the byway.”
Principal Chief Chad Smith said, “This historical thoroughfare runs across some of the most important land in the history of the Cherokee Nation. The partnership between the Cherokee Nation, the state, and the university creates the opportunity to share with visitors and Oklahomans alike the unique communities that make up the Cherokee experience.”
The Cherokee Nation is already pointing out the attractions along the byway or those that are in the area and which may be reached by driving the byway, including, along with cultural attractions, recreational, historical, natural and scenic attractions.
Those attractions in and near Sequoyah County include Tahlonteeskee Cherokee Courthouse Museum, Marval Camping Resort, Tenkiller Lake and its many camping areas and resorts, Tenkiller State Park, Five Oaks Manor, Fin & Feather Resort, the Webbers Falls Reservoir, Brushy Lake State Park, the Overstreet-Kerr Historical Farm, Robert S. Kerr Reservoir, Sequoyah’s Home, the 14 Flags Museum, the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Dwight Mission, the Webbers Falls Historical Museum, Vian Lake Park, and the several Cherokee Casinos along the way.
The short list does not include the attractions in the other three counties along the byway.
Tinnin said Cherokee Hills Byway is currently under consideration for national designation as an America’s Byways by the National Scenic Byways Program. The selection will be announced at the National Scenic Byways Program annual convention in August.
