An easy detour for drivers is leading to safety concerns in a Tulsa neighborhood near Woodland Hills mall.
Residents near 65th and Memorial are fed up with construction traffic spilling into their neighborhood.
“They’re going to the mall or Walmart,” Claudia Nelson said.
Car after car, funneled into a one way street. Claudia and Ed Nelson experience this chaos every day.
“Why does it have to be a shortcut through our neighborhood?” Claudia Nelson wondered. “The traffic is just too much.”
Also drivers are ignoring the wrong way signs, increasing the risk of a crash.
“The police, when they’re here we don’t have a problem,” Ed Nelson said. “But they can’t be here 24/7.”
TPD says they are adding patrols to the area. Other than that, city engineers say they can’t do much to fix the problem.
Residents are unsatisfied with the response, so 2 Works for You turned to City Councilor Anna America for help.
America says most of the traffic is pouring in from 61st and Memorial, where there is a lot of construction.
She says it’s time to organize a meeting between residents and the city.
“Hopefully we can bring all the city leaders together and decide is there a way to do better enforcement here, better signage, or does it need to be closed entirely?” America said.
The Nelsons plan to attend the meeting, hoping for a timely fix.
“There has to be a workable solution, there just has to be.”
A plan is already in the works to add speed bumps in the neighborhood, but right now there are no plans to close the shortcut causing the problems.
