Stay On? Get Off? Navigating Tulsa's Construction Mess

Major traffic jams are continuing to cause headaches for Tulsa area drivers. Construction on the Broken Arrow Expressway is well underway, making travel times a little slower to and from downtown.

4/18/2012 Related Story: Frustrated Tulsa Drivers Ask 'When Will It All End?'

Whenever you're driving through construction, you always see cars who bail off the highway right as the traffic is about to come to a halt.

We wanted to see if it's quicker to stay on or get off; here's what we found:

We sent two cars out to test two different routes during rush hour Monday. Our final destination was the QuikTrip at 51st and 129th.

Car A drove on the Broken Arrow Expressway from downtown all the way to the QuikTrip. Car B started on the BA, and then dipped off when traffic started to get thick.

As car A got closer to the construction zone, traffic picked up a little bit but it never quite came to a stop.

As it continued on the BA, car B decided to get off at the 21st Street exit. It headed west to Lewis and then south to 31st street and east back towards the Broken Arrow Expressway.

Car A made it to the QuikTrip meeting spot first. Seven minutes later, car B pulled up. Both cars then returned to downtown Tulsa.

Car A followed the Broken Arrow expressway back; car B headed west to Yale, north to 21st and then west back to the expressway.

Again, car A finished first; car B rolled up six minutes later.

The traffic might actually be better during rush hour than during the day, when both sides of the highway only had one lane open. Crews open up two lanes during peak travel times.

To track this and other road projects check out the Daily Detour at NewsOn6.com