More Orange Construction Barrels Coming To A Tulsa Highway Near You

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will begin widening projects on both U.S. Highway 169 and Interstate 44 on Monday.

Widening Highway 169:

U.S. Highway 169 will be widened to six lanes from I-244 north to 56th Street North.  The project will include replacing the bridges over Pine Street.

According to an ODOT new release, the contract for the $16 million project was awarded to Becco, Inc. and is expected to take just over a year to complete.

ODOT says Becco will be required to have two lanes open in each direction of US-169 between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays.

That means much of the work will be done at night and on weekends, but ODOT warns that drivers should still be alert for crews in this area during daylight hours.

According to NewsOn6.com's Bridge Tracker, the bridges over Pine Street were built in 1963 and are considered structurally deficient by ODOT.

Widening I-44 at Harvard:

On Monday ODOT will also begin the second phase of the $360 million project to widen I-44 between Riverside Drive and Yale Avenue.  This phase is a $48 million widening of I-44 to six lanes, replacing the bridge at Harvard Avenue, and greatly improve the entrances and exits to the highway.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation anticipates it will take two years to complete.

According to NewsOn6.com's Bridge Tracker, the bridges over Harvard Avenue were built in 1956 and are considered functionally obsolete by ODOT.

The I-44 widening project from Riverside to Yale includes six-laning the highway and improving on and off ramps at the intersections of Harvard, Lewis and Peoria avenues as well as Riverside Drive. 

The overall project is expected to be complete by early 2013.

2/26/2010  Related Story: All Lanes Of I-44 Open At 161st E. Ave. Junction