All Lanes Of Harvard To Be Shut Down At Tulsa's I-44 Junction Friday

NewsOn6.com & Lacie Lowry, News On 6

TULSA, Oklahoma – All lanes of north and southbound Harvard Avenue at the I-44 junction in Tulsa will be closed this weekend as part of the I-44 widening project, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation said.

ODOT said both directions of Harvard at the I-44 junction will be shut down from 7 p.m. Friday night to 6 a.m. Monday so crews can remove the east and westbound I-44 bridges.

According to ODOT:

• Southbound Harvard Ave. traffic will detour to the frontage road to Lewis Ave.
• Northbound Harvard Ave. traffic will detour to 51st St. to either Lewis Ave. or Yale Ave.
• All lanes of I-44 will remain open.
• The westbound I-44 on-ramp from Harvard Ave. remains closed until further notice.

Rolled up in the middle of the closure are businesses like Sushi Train.

"Some customers say, you know it's a hassle to come out here, especially for lunch. Lunch has slowed down a lot," Lee Mason, owner of Sushi Train, said.

Lee Mason said his restaurant has learned to roll with the construction punches, like starting a delivery service.

"I started delivery a little bit earlier, before the construction, just so I could get it going, so that whenever construction started messing us up, we could still get out there," Mason said.

Mason said his regulars brave the traffic and keep the restaurant chugging along.

"We have lots of good customers here," Mason said. "They really love the place and they'll do whatever to get here. They actually crave the train!"

I-44 is being widened from four lanes to six in the Harvard Avenue corridor.  It's part of the overall $360 million widening project on I-44 from Riverside Drive To Yale Avenue, which is expected to be completed in 2013.

You can check the progress of all the construction projects in and around the Tulsa area by checking out the Daily Detour.