Tulsa Road Widening Project Underway

By Tara Vreeland, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The City of Tulsa and Tulsa County are working together on a road widening project.

Crews started Monday on East 101st Street at South Memorial Drive.

They blocked off the east side of 101st Street by where a new Target is being built.

This means more detours and more traffic.

"Memorial is a very busy street," said Matthew Liechti, City of Tulsa engineer.

Construction is an inconvenience, but a necessity as Tulsa grows.

"It's through the economic development funds and the third penny sales tax," said Liechti.

The city is providing the cost of materials and the county has provided the construction labor.

"We're putting in a storm sewer system, actually Tulsa County will be putting in a storm sewer system, widening out 101st from Memorial to 84th East Avenue out to five lanes, similar to other five lanes you've seen in Tulsa," said Liechti.

It's a widening project that will take about two months to complete.

"I think two months is an aggressive time schedule and I think it will take all of two months," said Liechti.

Drivers will not be able to turn east from Memorial Drive to 101st Street.

"Congestion, obviously with the construction going on on Memorial currently is going to cause backups. I don't think this is going to add too much more to the backup," said Liechti.

People living in the Ridge Pointe neighborhood are advised to use East 98th Street to enter the subdivision. South 84th East Avenue will also be closed during the construction.

"After they finish this work on the east side of Memorial, they'll be flopping over to the west side," said Liechti.

The west side is also expected to take two months.

"I ask if you come through here, give it a break. There's people working on Memorial, be safe," said Liechti.

Tulsa County will be posting message boards in the project area to notify motorists of traffic conditions.