Damaged Pavement On Highway West Of Downtown Tulsa Repaired

Traffic is moving again on the Sand Springs Expressway at the bridge over Gilcrease Museum road.  Earlier Thursday, two westbound lanes had to be shut down to repair road damage.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation says the road buckled in the middle lane of Highway 412 at an expansion joint on the bridge. 

ODOT says crews are constantly on the lookout to catch damage like this before it's too late.

Two of the expressway's three lanes had to be closed and while it may not look like much, it's an important job for ODOT maintenance workers. Even in the burning heat of the sun, they hammer and lay down tar in hopes of fully reopening the highway quickly. 

8/6/2015 Related Story: Damaged Pavement Closes Two Lanes Of Highway 412 Near Downtown

This shutdown is an inconvenience for drivers waiting in this long lines of cars, but this fix is one that can't be put off.  

"Right now we do think it is weather related and just with the wear and tear that goes across this bridge this is a heavy commuter route in the area  it just unfortunately caused this deterioration," said ODOT spokesperson Kenna Carmon.  

Kenna Carmon says maintenance crews traveling around town noticed the road buckling early Thursday afternoon. Cones were put down and work began.

"We've had a lot of moisture especially since this spring so sometimes that gets down in areas and when you get the expansion that just caused all kinds of issues," said Kenna Carmon.

Carmon says the heat and sporadic rain combined with thousands of miles of road to maintain, means crews need the public's help to spot problems before they get out of control.

"We can never predict when something like this will happen but we have crews in each of our counties across oklahoma that check daily for any potential hazards developing and our crews in Tulsa are certainly no exception to that and if we see any signs that there's a hazard that we are going out and making repairs as quick as possible," said Kenna Carmon.  

She says there are still a long list of improvements scheduled for ODOT this summer. However, most of the larger jobs will be done by outside contractors, so Thursday's repairs should not have any impact on the ongoing projects.

ODOT reminds drivers they can report road damage by emailing them at mpr@odot.org.