Intersection Construction Will Impact South Tulsa, Bixby Traffic For Several Weeks

Construction crews will be closing lanes on Memorial between 111th and 101st Street, starting Monday to expand medians in that area. Tulsa driver Sidney Daniels is already preparing to spend some extra time in her car next week.

"It's going to take everyone a while to get used to it," said Daniels.

 Daniels, who takes South Memorial to go to doctor’s appointments and run errands is just one of the thousands of drivers who will be impacted when crews close lanes on this busy stretch of road starting on Monday.

"I grew up in Tulsa,” said Daniels. “I learned to drive in Tulsa so I'm used to it."

The cooperative project between ODOT and the cities of Tulsa and Bixby will modify medians at three different intersections along Memorial, 102nd Street, 106th Place, and 110th Street.

Two inside lanes and a turn lane will be closed, as crews expand the median. Only one intersection will be worked on at a time. ODOT says the goal is to make the area safer by preventing drivers from turning left, except for at intersections that have a traffic light.

"South Memorial between Tulsa and Bixby is a very congested area,” said TJ Gerlach, spokesperson for ODOT. “We have a lot of traffic down there…it's just a safety improvement so people aren't trying to cross three, four, five lanes of traffic in order to make a left turn.”

Gerlach says there have been several serious car accidents along this stretch of Memorial, as drivers try to cross several lanes.

"We've had a lot of interest from the public who has maybe seen a wreck or been involved in a collision,” said Gerlach.

Half of the $330,000 project will be paid for by ODOT. Tulsa and Bixby will each pay 25 percent. The work is expected to take between four and six weeks.