Oklahoma's roads among nation's roughest

Sunday, June 26th 2005, 12:42 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A national study says the Oklahoma City metropolitan area has the 10th roughest urban roads in the nation with almost half of its major roads and highways in poor condition.

Tulsa ranked 18th in the study with more than one-third of its major roads and highways in poor condition. And federal statistics indicate Oklahoma has more miles of extremely rough rural highways and interstates than any other state.

The director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Gary Ridley, says fixing Oklahoma's roads will cost billions of dollars.

An election is set September 13th on a proposal to raise fuel taxes to 22 cents a gallon for road and bridge improvements. Oklahoma's 14-cent state diesel tax is the fifth lowest in the nation and the 17-cent gasoline tax is the ninth lowest.