TULSA COUNTY, Okla. — Thousands of bridges across Oklahoma are in desperate need of repairs or replacement, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
Recently, the governor signed a bill to help counties pay for all that.
2 News Oklahoma asked a Tulsa County commissioner and drivers how badly our bridges need fixing.
“I lived here for 23 years, and I cross it every single day,” Dena Thomas told 2 News.
Every time a vehicle crawls across a single-lane bridge near Sperry (around 106th St. North and Lewis Ave.), the metal floor pieces move under its weight, creating a clanking sound that echoes down the road.
“We don't even hear it no more,” said Thomas. “We've heard it for so long.”
WATCH: 'It's dangerous': Tulsa County glad to receive new money to fix bridges
That quaint little bridge was originally built in 1912.
However, Tulsa County says something it has in common with 31 other off-system bridges in the county: it’s structurally deficient.
We asked Thomas if that concerns her, and she replied, “Absolutely, absolutely. It's dangerous. And when you have 18-wheelers and dump trucks driving over it every day that don't pay attention to the tonnage signs, it does make you nervous.”
Tulsa County Commissioner Stan Sallee walked with 2 News onto that bridge to talk about a new initiative.
“This bridge that we're on today, it's over 270 feet long,” he said. “The cost to replace is over $7 million. We don't have $7 million sitting around to replace that.”
He told us he’s thankful Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a new bill into law, HB 2758.
When asked how badly they needed the new money the law provides, he responded, “Well, we need it desperately. The public does.”
It creates what’s called the Preserving and Advancing County Transportation Fund, which allocates some state taxes toward the worst locally controlled bridges in the state.
We asked Sallee if this PACT Fund is a short-term or long-term fix, and he answered, “This is recurring. That’s what's so significant about this bill. It gives county governments recurring monies for not only road miles, but for structurally deficient bridges year after year.”
ODOT rates 10% of all bridges in Oklahoma as “poor,” making us the tenth-worst state in that regard.
Most of these are locally controlled — or, in other words, “off-system.”
“People drive over these roads,” Sallee emphasized. “They don't know if they're state, local, county — they expect they're safe.”
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