MIAMI – Several leaders and community members came out Monday afternoon for the unveiling of a special plaque commemorating a partnership between the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, City of Miami and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) that brought together funds to construct a bridge over Tar Creek — the Adawe Central Avenue Bridge — on Central Avenue.

The bridge is near NEO A&M College and Miami High School campuses in a heavily traveled area of Miami.

The new bridge was named for the tribe and a commemorative plaque was put in place on the bridge and revealed Monday afternoon as a sign of appreciation for the Ottawa Tribe's funding contribution and dedicated efforts toward the bridge project.

The Central Avenue Bridge over Tar Creek was officially renamed the Adawe Central Avenue Bridge by the council out of respect for the Ottawa Tribe's significant and major contribution of funding nearly $1 million of the project.

Funds from the Indian Reservation Road Bridge Program allowed the Ottawa Tribe with assistance from the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Eastern Oklahoma Region to obtain funding from the Federal Government's Highway Trust Fund.

Miami City Manager Dean Kruithof thanked Miami Public Works Director Joe Waldon for his part in the project and his ideas to recognize the Ottawa Tribe’s vital importance in the construction of the new bridge.

“Joe came to me and said this bridge would not be what it is if it were not for the Ottawa Tribe,” Kruithof said. “This has gone from something you take for granted and don’t even think about to kind of an iconic part of Miami.”

Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma Chief Ethel Cook said Waldon had worked hard and closely with the tribe to make the project come together.

“We’re very proud to be able to do this for the city and we hope to be able to do more for the city,” she said.

The new bridge design offers a pedestrian walkway and attractive iron railing and light fixtures.

“We were able to, with the BIA’s help, find some emergency funds for a bridge,” Cook said. “We had to compete for it and there were only three tribes, the Ottawa Tribe was one and there were two tribes up north, and we were just so excited. Everybody was that worked on that project to get this done. We knew it was the best thing for the city to get the street opened back up for the college, for the high school.”

The plaque and the unveiling honored those leaders involved in the project including Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma Chief Ethel Cook, Second Chief Bert Kleidon, Secretary/Treasurer Teresa Smith, First Council Person J.C.Dawes, Second Council Person Dr. Charla Dawes, the late former Miami Mayor Kent Ketcher and former Mayor Brent Brassfield, Miami City Councilmen at the time of the project Rudy Schultz, Neal Johnson, Doug Weston, Joe Sharbutt, Scott Trussler, Terry Atkinson and John Dalgarn.

“When you have tribes in your community- the towns that prosper work with the tribes,” Miami’s Mayor Rudy Schultz said. “I’m just proud of Miami and Dean and everybody and thankful to the tribes that we are able to work together and we look forward to a lot more of that in the future. Thank you.”

The initial budget for the bridge project was $600,000 to $700,000 without the tribe’s contribution.

“We just honored to be able to be part of it,” Cook said. “Mike Furnas and Tim Wilson, who is our tribal member and was part of the city at that time, were a big part of the project, and of course Mayor Ketcher was a very big part. He was so tickled we got this done. This is one thing he was very adamant about would happen, so I’m glad Kent’s watching form above to be able to see that it happened. I’d like to ask Mrs.(Yvonne) Ketcher to come up and help me pull the string on this.”

And with that the late Mayor of Miami Kent Ketcher’s widow and Cook pulled away a drapery covering the new plaque which brought applause from the tribal, community, city leaders, staff and workers, many who had a part in the bridge project, and others gathered for the occasion atop the Adawe Central Avenue Bridge.

Melinda Stotts is the associate editor of the Miami News-Record. She can be emailed at mstotts@miaminewsrecord.com.