BY TIM HENLEY
Published: March 25, 2009
NORMAN — Motorists exiting to U.S. 77 at Interstate 35 will have to use an alternate route beginning next week while a bridge is replaced.
The bridge from I-35 to U.S. 77 will close April 1 while crews from
Oklahoma City-based
Haskell Lemon Construction Co. replace it with a longer bridge to accommodate more lanes on I-35, state Transportation Department spokesman
David Meuser said.
Southbound I-35 travelers who want to exit onto U.S. 77 will be
rerouted at the Indian Hills Road exit. The bridge is expected to be
complete by Aug. 1.
The bridge replacement is part of $40 million in work approved by the
Transportation Department to widen a 4.6-mile stretch of I-35 from four
to six lanes between Indian Hills and Main Street.
The Transportation Department has not set a date for the widening
project to begin, but it is expected to be complete during summer 2010,
Meuser said.
Meuser said 75,000 vehicles travel through Norman daily on the
interstate highway, making it one of the state’s busiest four-lane
highway stretches.
When the highway was designed during the 1950s, it was designed for 25,000 vehicles daily, he said.
Posted on
Wed, March 25, 2009
by Crystal Drwenski