Interstate 244 Set For Resurfacing

Starting Monday night, crews will be resurfacing eight miles of I-244 in Tulsa.

Sunday, August 10th 2008, 6:27 pm

By: News On 6

A subsidiary of SemGroup, SemMaterials, is providing resurfacing materials for at least one major highway project in Tulsa. News on 6 anchor Jennifer Loren reports ODOT is set to begin repaving an eight mile stretch of Interstate 244.

The contractor is not expecting any delays because of SemGroup's bankruptcy.

More than 76,000 vehicles drive the stretch of I-244 through Tulsa every day. That heavy traffic has taken its toll.

"There's a lot of bumps in the roadway, a lot of wear and tear on it," said Kenna Mitchell, ODOT spokesperson.

ODOT plans to resurface I-244 beginning in east Tulsa with the I-44 split closing one lane at a time to the Highway 75 interchange just east of downtown.

When all of those lanes are resurfaced, they'll turn around and go back, resurfacing the eastbound lanes. They plan to have the entire project finished within 70 days because there's minimal prep work.

"Well, we're not tearing up any of the existing roadway. We're just going in and putting the asphalt overlay. It's going to be about three quarters of an inch," said Mitchell.

As part of their contract with ODOT, construction crews are not allowed to work on the stretch of highway during peak driving times. This means commuters should have a good drive to and from work.

In fact, the contractor plans to get most of the work done at night between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. But, any other delays, according to ODOT officials, will be worth it in the end.

"It's one that we've really wanted to address for a quite a while just because, as any driver has noticed on there, there are lots of bumps, lots of dips, lots of areas where we've gone in to make repairs already. So, this is really going to improve the drive through Tulsa," said Mitchell.

All together the project will use more than 50 miles of Nova Chip asphalt from SemMaterials.

As of last week, the contractor assured ODOT they had all the supplies they need to complete the project.

The project's 7 p.m. start was delayed Monday night because of the rain.