Drivers Face Delays With Additional Lane Closure On Broken Arrow Expressway

Parts of the Broken Arrow Expressway are even more sluggish as repairs continue. Lanes in both directions between Highway 75 and Lewis are down to one lane.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation said the additional lane closures can cause some headaches for drivers, but getting the repairs made will hopefully mean the highways won’t need any major maintenance for several years.

Some drivers said the additional closures means another round of finding alternate routes.

“All you can do is be patient and smile,” a driver who travels through the highway said. “If not, you’re an awfully frustrated person.”

ODOT said it knows frustration is easy to find in the congestion. Rebuilding continues after starting in January, reducing lanes in both directions from three to two.

Cutting it down even more to one lane between Highway 75 and Lewis Avenue is necessary.

“Most of the project has fresh concrete poured,” said TJ Gerlach, a spokesperson for ODOT. “There’s just one area around the Lewis Avenue bridges that we don’t have the space available to get the new concrete poured for both new lanes."

ODOT said the project includes the shoulders along the roadways and replacing the grass barriers with new walls.

While the latest step may cause some headaches, ODOT is hopeful it is one of the last hurdles of this project.

“Once we get through this single lane narrowing, then we’re going to be able to move everybody onto the new pavement,” said Gerlach. “They’re going to be off of that old, cracked up, rough-patched pavement.”

ODOT suggests drivers give themselves up to 10 more minutes to get through the construction or find alternate routes. The project is expected to take 30 days, but there are incentives for the contractor if it is finished earlier.