ODOT: Settlement issues on Sand Creek bridge replacement fixed

OSAGE COUNTY, Okla. - A newly constructed bridge part of the U.S. Highway 60/ Oklahoma Highway 99 reconstruction in Osage County may soon see traffic, according to state highway officials.

“We could have traffic within a week or two,” Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kenna Mitchell told 2NEWS, saying work has resumed on the state's $10 million project begun in 2010 to build three miles of new alignment on the highway.

The state halted its construction in late November when crews noticed soil settlement had caused the new Sand Creek bridge's northern approach pavement to sink three inches below the bridge's driving surface.

Mitchell explained that last week crews injected a specially designed foam-like substance underneath the approach's pavement to fix the settlement issue.

This substance, made of polyurethane according to construction engineer Mark Vishka, would expand to raise the pavement to the appropriate grade to match the bridge's surface and harden.

Vishka told 2NEWS Tuesday morning now that the bridge issue has been fixed, crews should be finishing paving operations, guard rail installations and road striping within the next two weeks, allowing traffic to switch to the new road shortly thereafter.

According to Mitchell, crews will then begin to dismantle the old road surface and the old Sand Creek bridge — a structure built in 1933.