Road Work On Admiral Should Resume Soon

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK - The News On 6 has received a lot of good questions about road construction, especially projects that seem to be running behind schedule.  But, some are asking about one job where work stopped months ago.

The job on Admiral, between Sheridan and Memorial, looks half done.  The north side of the street is repaved.  The other side is ground down and there hasn't been any change in months.  It was supposed to be done by now, but the City of Tulsa Public Works scandal has it tied up.

Jim Heard is an experienced motorcycle rider, but even he worries about trying to navigate the construction on Admiral Boulevard.  Right now, it's a half done mess with four lanes narrowed down to two and loose gravel everywhere.

"It's tough when you hit loose gravel or dirt, it will throw you off, it will throw you over quick, you have to watch what you're doing," said Jim Heard.

The two mile long road project started last summer and stopped in January with the indictment of the contractor, Horizon Construction.  The plan was to scrape off the top layer of the road and repave it.

"We were working on doing the patching between Sheridan and Memorial when it was stopped," said Brad Crutcher with the City of Tulsa.

The city says a new contract should be signed within two weeks, and the work could start again a couple of weeks after that.

In the meantime, Admiral is a major headache for business owners.

"It's been a real nuisance and it's affected business.  People don't want to come down this road because of the congestion and that's slowed our drive by traffic and that's cut the people coming in our doors," said Chris Combs with Action Power Sports.

Since the contractor on the job is now out of business, the city called in a performance bonding company which guaranteed the work.  They've re-bid what's left of the job, which amounts to about two months of work.

"All it costs us is delays and inconvenience to the public, which we hate, and we wish there was a way to avoid that, but there just isn't," said Brad Crutcher with the City of Tulsa.

Of all the projects that were interrupted by the indictments, the city says the Admiral one is having the most impact on traffic.

They told The News On 6 that work should get going again in about four weeks and take two months to finish.