As the holiday season approaches, Tulsa motorists may find multiple traffic delays due to the ongoing road work.
From Memorial Drive to Highway 169 along 71st Street, a project that was started in April has been clogging traffic in front of Woodland Hills Mall and one of the busiest shopping/dining corridors in Tulsa. That work includes updating the intersection of 71st Street and Memorial Drive.
In April, city officials assured the public that construction will stop for the months of November and December for the holiday shopping season. The project will resume in January 2022, and completion is scheduled for spring 2022.
The city just recently finished the expansion of Mingo Road from 71st Street to 81st Street at a cost of $15,000,000.00. That includes funding for design and right-of-way acquisition on other segments, including Mingo Road between 81st and 91st Streets and 91st Street between Mingo Road and Memorial Drive.
In Downtown Tulsa, there are an ongoing projects on 7th Street (from Denver Avenue to Houston Avenue), 6th Street (from Boston Avenue to 7th Street), Boston Avenue (from 10th Street to 1st Street); 5th Street (from Boston Avenue to Denver Avenue) and Detroit Avenue (from 13th Street to 2nd Street.)
There are projects all over the city, from main arterial streets to neighborhood roads.
In 2008, Tulsans voted for a sizable tax increase, approving 137 projects with $451.6 million in borrowed money through the Third Penny Sales Tax and a general obligation bond issue. The two funding packages combined represented the largest expense in infrastructure in Tulsa’s history until that time.
In 2013, Tulsans approved even more funding for street and transportation projects – $625 million from the Improve Our Tulsa Third Penny Sales Tax and general obligation bonds.
By the end of 2016, 80% of the Fix Our Streets work was completed – 110 out of 137 projects. Seventeen projects were under construction and 10 were ready to advertise pending right-of-way acquisition and utility relocations.
Besides the city projects, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation has some huge ongoing construction jobs underway in the Tulsa metro area, including:
- Southbound US 75 (the east leg of the Dispersal Loop downtown) is closed between Archer Street and US 64/SH51 through the spring of 2022 for resurfacing.
From time to time, that means ramp closures at:
- Westbound I-244 to southbound US-75
- Eastbound I-244 to southbound US-75
- Southbound US-75 to eastbound I-244/US-412
- Southbound US-75 to eastbound SH-51/US-64/Broken Arrow Expressway
- Southbound US-75 to westbound SH-51/US-64
- 8th St. on ramp to southbound US-75/westbound US-64/SH-51 and eastbound US-64/SH-51/Broken Arrow Expressway
- 7th St. off ramp from southbound US-75
- 1st St. off ramp from southbound US-75
At some point, the project will close northbound US 75. The whole project won’t be finished until 2023.
Also, Union Avenue in West Tulsa will be closed over I-44 through early 2022. Traffic is detoured to 33rd West Avenue.
The eastbound I-44 off-ramp to northbound US 75 and the southbound US 75 off-ramp to I-44 are closed through 2022. And the eastbound I-44 ramp on Skelly Drive is closed until 2023. Skelly Drive is closed between Union Avenue and Olympia Avenue and the intersection of West Skelly Drive and South Union Avenue is closed.