Road Improvements Begin Downtown

Monday, August 6th 2007, 5:00 pm

By: News On 6

The City of Tulsa started a major road improvement project downtown Monday, and it's going to have a big impact on anyone driving downtown for the next year. The News On 6â€™s Emory Bryan reports the city plans to repair over 50 blocks of downtown streets, most of them going to and from the arena.

There is plenty of road work ahead for downtown Tulsa, and so much of it will be happening at once that it might appear it's in every direction. Many of downtown's busiest streets, like 3rd Street and Denver Avenue, will undergo major construction work over the next year.

"The intent is to not close any streets, we will be working half at a time, and we're going to try to isolate the work to one block at a time," Matt Liechti with the City of Tulsa said.

The work will impact much of downtown, with reconstruction and resurfacing on streets and three bridges. Meanwhile, beautification work and new lighting will impact the sidewalks in the central core of downtown.

All this works comes just as another big job is almost done. On Boston Avenue backhoes and cars commonly cross paths. The people who work in the area have tiptoed through the mess all year and for the some, patience has run out.

"Looking better and actually serving a function for the community that is downtown Tulsa is actually two completely different things," said downtown worker Michael Rife-Taylor.

The street work will not be limited to the roads. In some places the sidewalks will be dug up, and the lines underneath will be replaced. The surface will be replaced with brick pavers. It's all part of a plan to make downtown look better before the arena opens. The city wants all the streets that feed traffic to the arena to be in good shape by the time it opens.

"The intent is to have the largest percentage of the projects done so we won't have any impact on traffic when the arena opens,â€ Liechti said. â€œThe contracts are structured in such a way so the work will begin near the arena and go outward in a wagon wheel spoke."

The work will start in several places over the next few weeks, with the first project starting at 3rd and Denver. The city plans to do $22 million worth of street work, just downtown, in the next 14 months.

For the complete list of downtown improvement projects, click here.

For a map of downtown construction projects, click here.