Widening work has begun on a portion of Highway 169 in Tulsa

If you're a motorist who uses Highway 169 a lot, we have good news and bad news. The good news is they're widening 169. The bad news is, they're widening 169. <br><br>News on Six reporter

Tuesday, September 17th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

If you're a motorist who uses Highway 169 a lot, we have good news and bad news. The good news is they're widening 169. The bad news is, they're widening 169.

News on Six reporter Steve Berg says weâ€™re talking about that narrow stretch on 169 between 21st street and 11th street. It's going to be much better when it's "done". But first, they have to get there.

Jonathan Sheay uses 169 a lot, as do a lot of other people. "Three times a week I drive that journey from Tulsa to Sand Springs. Two lanes are very congested. You have a lot of accidents on Highway 169.â€ The state will widen northbound and southbound 169 from four to six lanes from 21st Street to just south of 11th Street.

Gary Evans with the State Department of Transportation says in a busy city, they don't come much busier than 169. "There's not a lot of north-south corridors in the city of Tulsa and this is certainly a major way to get from south to north in Tulsa."

And between two of its busiest suburbs. "There's a large amount of growth in the Owasso area up north of town but there's also a tremendous amount of growth in the Broken Arrow area."

Like most road projects, it will get worse before it gets better, but the contractor has agreed to finish in just 215 days, with reward for finishing early, and penalties for finishing late. Itâ€™s a system the state is using more and more and they like the results. "Made it very competitive on us getting in and out and creating as little delay as possible to the traveling public."

So they hope to be done in May of 2003. Very speedy by road construction standards. Once that is done, they plan to widen the rest of the way north to I-244.