TULSA, Okla. — Westbound traffic on Interstate 44 over Peoria Avenue came to a standstill this weekend after a hole formed.
As crews finished fixing it on April 28, 2 News sought answers from transportation officials about why this happened and dug into the data to see how our other bridges look.
When asked what happened exactly to the bridge, TJ Gerlach replied, “This bridge has been a little bit of a trouble spot since it was opened, and since it was built back in 2012.”
Gerlach, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, told 2 News they have a trouble spot that periodically opens up in the middle lane on the westbound side.
“Last week, our Tulsa-area maintenance engineers did notice that it was looking problematic,” he said, “especially with all the rain that we've had recently. And so, we did have a work zone scheduled today [April 28] in order to address that problem.”
But that trouble spot opened up as a hole on Saturday in that very place, going through the concrete. The hole’s dimensions were four feet by two feet.
Gerlach acknowledged that someone’s tires could have easily gotten in that hole.
Since it was in the middle lane, crews could only keep one lane open, which turned the interstate essentially into a miles-long parking lot at times.
If one stood at the Lewis Avenue crossing over I-44 and looked east at noon on Monday, it was backed up all the way over the hill. Waves of cars then began using the westbound lanes of Skelly Drive, apparently as a faster route.
While crews finally fixed the hole just before 1pm Monday, all this begs the question: could this happen to similar bridges of similar ages?
We asked Gerlach when the last major work was done to the bridge over Peoria, and he said those happened in 2012, “When we widened I-44 from Riverside to I believe it was Yale, that's when this bridge was completely redone.”
Then asked if he thinks he could see any similar issues develop for other bridges built along that corridor, he replied, “Like I said, this bridge in particular has given us some issues in the past.”
He added: “We do have to address it, I'd say, about once a year, maybe once every 18 months, just to make sure that's in good condition and safe for drivers to go over. But we do keep an eye on all their all of our highways.”
The state identified about 20,500 bridges in need of repairs in August last year, according to data compiled by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association. This was an improvement from the 21,200 that needed work in 2020.
Despite this progress, there are nearly 23,000 bridges in Oklahoma, with 7.7% of them classified as “structurally deficient.”
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
