TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Imagine you have a road connecting your neighborhood to downtown that's bumpy, beat up, and without a sidewalk. Both the city and the state say they're working on it. Then 22 years pass.
“It’s a lot of traffic through here all the time and I’ll be glad when they get it done,” Tahlequah resident Tyrel Drain told 2 News Oklahoma.
Drain has only lived next to East 4th Street the past three years, but is lucky to get KATS transports up to his front curb instead of his stretch of 4th Street adjacent to his house, which doesn’t even have a curb.
The history of inaction on the busy road goes back to the time of Adrian Peterson's freshman season at OU.
WATCH: Expansion begins soon for busy Tahlequah road after 22 years:
“(In) 2004, City of Tahlequah entered into an agreement with Oklahoma Department of Transportation to do a local grant for some improvements on 4th Street,” city administrator Taylor Tannehill said.
ODOT also confirmed to 2 News that due to the project’s design, right of way acquisition and utility relocations plus other priorities for the city, the plan sat idle until the latest city budget.
The project was planned to utilize federal small cities funding, but after the design was completed, ODOT and the City of Tahlequah agreed because of federal requirements and ODOT’s specifications, the project would not have been a good candidate for the funding. ODOT and the City are exploring other projects that would better fit the funding source.
The process took such a long time due to the project’s design, right of way acquisition and utility relocations as well as the project’s priority among other needs in the community over the years.
“This has been a priority from Day 1 for the mayor," Tannehill said. "It’s taken her a good three years to get to the point where we’re at, but sometimes these things do take some time.”
Now there’s $2.1 million the city allocated for finally widening the road, putting in a turn lane, and adding a sidewalk on the north side of the road. Construction is expected to begin late June to last just under a year.
Drain said he cannot wait both for his convenience and for the rest of the neighborhood.
“Kids walk up and down these roads all the time," Drain said. "School buses, everything. (The improvements) would be nice to have.”
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