MORE construction work on the BA Expressway

Drivers are about to experience more pain to gain more lanes on the Broken Arrow Expressway. KOTV's Emory Bryan says the barrels are out and soon the construction workers will be too. <br><br>The

Friday, July 27th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Drivers are about to experience more pain to gain more lanes on the Broken Arrow Expressway. KOTV's Emory Bryan says the barrels are out and soon the construction workers will be too.

The Broken Arrow Expressway is of course the major commute corridor between downtown and Broken Arrow. Beginning this weekend, a major project begins on the section between Sheridan and Memorial, widening it to three lanes each way. It's part of a massive project to eventually upgrade the expressway all the way to downtown.

The barrels and signs are lining the BA so they can be put into place first thing Saturday morning. The most difficult part of the project is upgrading a 2-lane bridge to handle the extra traffic. The overall project is complicated by the thousands of cars that speed down the road, so they'll try to limit lane closures to the weekends. The project begins this weekend and will take about three years to complete. The cost is about $18 million dollars.

This project begins, just as the project to the east wraps up. The Department of Transportation has already widened the BA to three lanes each way, beyond Memorial; this upcoming project will widen it to Sheridan.