BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Broken Arrow is another step closer to improving the traffic flow in the city. ODOT wants better traffic flow on the Broken Arrow Expressway – and city leaders want more lanes along one of the city’s busiest streets. These goals are intersecting.
Some portions of Lynn Lane could have up to seven lanes.
"Are we trying to be like Texas? And have multiple traffic lanes going on?" questioned Ashton Bowers, who commutes from Sapulpa to Broken Arrow daily.
Assistant City Manager Kenneth Schwab can’t speak for Texas, but he knows in Broken Arrow he needed to take action.
"We all know there’s a problem, but we want to look at, what is the best way to solve it, the most complete way to solve it and the funding," Schwab said.
They’ll answer all those questions through ODOT.
ODOT maintains an eight-year plan, with $8.4 billion in the coffers.
Part of Bowers' commute goes through Lynn Lane, and that congestion makes for an early wake-up call.
"Usually I get up about 6:30, so I can leave my house at 7:45 and make it here on time," Bowers said.
If and when this is all said and done, it will be the result of more than ten years of work for people in Broken Arrow. Schwab is promising there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
"You’ve been patient to this point, continue to be patient. It’s taken years. I’ve been here long enough, I actually remember when it was two lanes," Schwab said.
We asked Bowers how she felt about the extended timeline.
"Would not surprise me with how construction is in Oklahoma," Bowers said.
These desired projects are in the study stage. There is a chance – though small – that ODOT could complete the study and not move forward with the improvements.
If that’s the case, Schwab says,
"We still have to have improvements somehow. There has to be something. Public safety is so important."
Broken Arrow's slice of the eight-year plan is just part of 1,800 projects ODOT is working on throughout Oklahoma.
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