Construction To Busy Claremore Highway Brings Improvements, Headaches

A busy stretch of Highway 20 in Claremore is getting some much-needed changes.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is adding two lanes to the road right in front of Westside Elementary School. Drivers said they're relieved to hear it, but are not looking forward to the construction.

That's because during rush hours, as well as school pick up and drop off times, this road can get backed up by a quarter mile or so; and with construction going on, that back-up could get even worse.

ODOT officials said the project will have little impact on traffic over the next several months, but Chris Hayes and Trish McComb, who live by Highway 20, beg to disagree.

"Looking forward to it being over with,” McComb laughed.

Crews just started the $3.2 million project to widen Highway 20 from two lanes to four - starting from the Clubhouse Road intersection, all the way past Westside Elementary School.

Plus, they'll add two traffic lights in between - all of which, drivers said, are necessary.

Westside Elementary parent, Brandi Brassfield said, “The traffic is terrible here. Like I said, it'll back up from this neighborhood to the intersection, in the other direction, a good quarter of a mile if not more."

The superintendent warned Westside parents to expect major traffic problems from now until the end of the school year.

“It’s going to be a headache, but we gotta deal with what we gotta deal with,” Hayes said.

Even though the project means putting up with even worse delays for the next several months, it also means relief is in sight.

Brassfield said, "It is a good thing, it is a good thing."

"I think it would benefit the flow of traffic, people would get in and out a lot easier," said Hayes.

ODOT said, if the weather cooperates, the project should wrap up sometime this summer.