Extreme Heat Causing Damage To Tulsa Roads

The extreme heat is causing emergency closures on some roads and making it dangerous for crews to repair them.

The triple-digit heat around Green Country is causing roads to buckle.

“So, the heat is really expanding the pavement,” explained Tulsa’s Street Maintenance Manager, Leon Kragel. “The pavement I was looking at earlier was between 122 and 105 degrees depending on where we’re reading the surface temperature.”

Kragel said the first call for heat-related road damage came on July 30.

The next day, crews closed all three eastbound lanes of east 71st Street, just east of Mingo, for contractors to start emergency repairs.

The city said it expects to have two lanes there open by Wednesday morning and a third lane open by Friday morning.

Another area closed because of buckling is near West 17th Street and Southwest Boulevard by the Arkansas River.

Kragel said the heat makes it harder to fix the roads because concrete will cure faster under higher temperatures.

“They’ve really got to get busy putting material into the hole before it starts to dry up and a lot of times, they will add some material on top just to slow that curing process down,” said Kragel.

Workers are also trying their best to stay safe and healthy maintaining roads in this heat.

“It’s just miserable to be out here in this sunshine,” said Kragel. “They’re doing all they can, trying to hydrate the night before and with these temperatures, we just ask them to work some and then take a smaller break, take more continuous, small breaks, that way they can deal with the heat.”

The city asks anyone who sees road issues to report it by calling 311.