Brookside Business Owners Warn Drivers Of Possible Congestion

Thousands more drivers will be moving through Tulsa's Brookside neighborhood soon. Because of that, Tulsa police assume they'll see a spike of accidents there.

Business owners in the area are being proactive to warn drivers.

A sign stands as a safety reminder to “drive slow homie,” but Tulsa Police Corporal Steve Wood, with the Riverside Traffic Division, said it should say something else.

2/19/2015 Related Story: Big Businesses Moving Into Bustling Brookside

"Pay attention. That's what it needs to be," he said.

Wood said Brookside is never on the list of Top 10 Collision Areas in Tulsa, but he bets that changes as soon as Riverside shuts down for construction in July.

"When Riverside closes and we throw 30 or 40,000 more cars onto Peoria, which isn't built to handle that kind of volume, we're going to have a lot of congestion. We're going to have a lot of rear-enders," he said.

Brookside business owners are trying to be proactive, and the message they're sending stands tall above Old School Bagel.

"Where are we going to hold them? There's four lanes of traffic, two going each way. No turning lanes,” said business owner Aaron Quinton. “Brookside right now is not built to hold the traffic that it's trying to maintain right now."

Not to mention the increased traffic when Reasor's opens and when Trader Joe's is built across the street.

3/5/2015 Related Story: Trader Joe's Confirms Store Coming To Brookside In 2015

"Hauling dirt, hauling debris, demolition. That's going to be a safety concern as well," Quinton said.

He said it's the city's responsibility to add street lights or traffic signals, anything to help.

"And unfortunately, there's no solution right now," he said.