Damaged Sign Structure Closes Northbound 169 In East Tulsa

Tulsa Police shut down the northbound lanes of Highway 169 at 21st Street because of a crash on the highway that damaged a large sign structure.

Power lines are also down in the same area, but ODOT doesn't know if the two incidents are related.

ODOT has also closed all northbound lanes of Highway 169 at the Broken Arrow Expressway junction due to cleanup. They said that may last several hours and even into early Friday morning.

They said traffic will be directed to east or westbound lanes of the Broken Arrow Expressway.

Police first reported that they were closing the southbound lanes but then closed the northbound lanes at ODOT's direction so ODOT personnel could examine the damaged structure.

The power lines started a small fire in the median of 21st Street. The incident knocked out electrical service in the area. PSO reports the outage affected at least 1,500 customers but everyone had power returned around 9:30 Thursday night.

ODOT is urging drivers to avoid the area.

So far there have been no reports of any injuries.