Progress gets quite noisy for some Claremore residents

It could be called progress at a price for some Claremore families forced to move their homes for a new highway project.

The new road is a three-quarter mile extension of highway 266 from The Port of Catoosa to Will Rogers Turnpike, and 16 families have moved their homes from the route the new road will take.

Bob Portiss of The Port of Catoosa says that about 800 trucks travel to the port everyday and that most of those have to travel down 46th street to get there. The new road will provide direct access to those drivers.

The Port of Catoosa has been wanting the extension for years, they say it will lower costs to transport goods that are brought in and out of the port by truck.

Of course not everyone in Rogers County is happy about the project. Especially people who live near the planned extension.

“There were concerns dealing with noise in the housing additions,” said Rogers County Manager Kenneth Crutchfield. “Some of those houses are going to be fairly close.” David Carpenter is one of those people. He lives a quarter mile from the planned work.

"I bought out here because it was quiet and then the state put the concrete dividers on the turnpike which increased the noise and now they're going to build the interchange up here and we're not happy about," said Carpenter.

Carpenter says he knows he must now live with the noise and take advantage of the shorter route home when it's built.