Tulsa Identifies 'Worst' Streets

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK - In one week Tulsa voters will decide whether to invest more money in repairing Tulsa's streets.  How was the decision made of what needs to be fixed?

The 1300 block of South Lewis is one of the streets on the list for repairs.  It made the list after engineers from the city literally drove every street and decided which ones needed work the most.

The 100 block of West Young Street is one of the worst streets in Tulsa.  Chris Cox can see exactly how bad, with a by the book ranking called the Pavement Condition Index.

"This street has a PCI of 37.  A scale where 100 is best and 0 is worst. We have a lot of panels that are broken up. There are areas with significant patching, throughout," said Chris Cox.  "The panels have faulted and there is a lot of uneveness and they tried to patch it with asphalt."

The two block stretch is mostly original concrete at least 50 years old.  It has cracked and been patched.  In places, the top layer has peeled away.

"There are 19 factors that are looked at when concrete is inspected and there are 19 for asphalt and each one has a value and when everything is computed, that's the pavement condition index," said Chris Cox.

The PCI is what determined which streets are included in the package that's on the ballot.  But, it will not mean that the worst streets will be fixed first.

"We have to look at our allocation schedule and our funding," said Chris Cox.

The $452 million dollars won't come all at once and neither will the repairs.  But, the money will go to the worst streets, like West Young, which will be dug out and rebuilt.

The city has a complete list of which streets are due for repairs if voters approve the extra money.

CLICK HERE to review that list.