TULSA, Okla. — The Oklahoma Department of Transportation opened one lane of the new Tulsa Henge skybridge, connecting I-44 to US-75 southbound.
This is the first real show of progress for the $252 million project. Drivers who use the highway regularly tell 2 News Oklahoma's Stef Manchen they're ecstatic to see the progress.
WATCH: ODOT opens one lane of Traffic Henge Skybridge
“It’s fine when it’s not rush hour but when it is rush hour and it’s back to back and it’s stopped up, it’s very frustrating," said Brandon Smith of Tulsa.
Smith said his mom lives nearby, so he frequently takes the highway. With all of the construction, he often finds himself taking alternate routes and sitting in traffic.
All the issues aside, he said he feels the project is moving quickly.
"It's going quickly compared to how long we waited with just the beams up," said Smith. "It is moving quickly, I am happy with that. You can see the progression."
For Gunner Davis, it's been an everyday nightmare.
"I live in Bixby, but I have to get here to work," he said. "It’s rough, it’s depressing. It's gotten worse and worse over the years. I was very proud of them for how they finished the first construction project, but it just seems like another one is right at the butt.”
2 News Oklahoma's Stef Manchen told him about the skybridge opening. She asked Davis how he felt about seeing progress.
"No kidding," said Davis. "I'm excited. I like to see those guys out there every single morning. When I don’t, I get a little frustrated, but they’ve done a really good job. I’m, that’s an impossible project.”
Davis said he hopes the momentum continues and recognizes what an undertaking the construction really is.
"I don’t see highways like that in other major cities very often, so I’m proud it’s going up right next to where I work and it’ll be a big deal," he said. "I hope it can get quicker. That’s all I can ask for.”
ODOT's TJ Gerlach said the plan is to open one lane at first, with the hope of curbing some of the congestion drivers are sick of. He said the flyover ramp will replace the clover ramp drivers currently use to get from I-44 to US-75.
"As the city has grown to envelope this interchange, the clover leafs don't function when they have that much traffic on them anymore, so we had frequent backups" said Gerlach. "Clover leafs have that very short merging area where the ramps meet, so the flyover bridges allow a lot of traffic on the bridge itself as well as a lot more merge area. You're not having competing merges as well."
We asked Gerlach why only one lane was opening.
“Initially when we open the bridge, we’re only going to have one of the two lanes open so we can complete that construction that does need to still go on on the bridge," he said. In the future we’ll have stripping that will need to be done on it as well. But overall, it’s going to be a much improved experience than that loop ramp that we’re getting rid of.”
Gerlach said it could take months to another year to get the second lane open.
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