INOLA, Okla. — The Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation is hosting an open house about converting U.S. Highway 412 into an interstate.
There are a lot of small communities in Oklahoma along U.S. 412, including Inola. Residents tell 2 News they're used to Inola being a small, quiet community, and they don't want all the traffic coming. But others say they're welcoming the increased tourism with open arms.
Inola Nutrition is nestled in the quaint community, directly off U.S. 412. Joe Walker owns it and says his town's growth is only in the beginning phase.
"You look at Owasso, Broken Arrow, Coweta; everything's growing. Inola's going to be right there. We're going to grow, as well. Hopefully, not that big, but we'll get pretty big, too," he said.
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But it's not just on Inola streets. Walker says the traffic count on U.S. 412, especially to and from the Tulsa area, is growing tremendously.
"I can remember a coach I had in school. He used to drive to Tulsa, and he could count the cars," Walker reminisced. "Whenever he got on the highway, he would count how many cars he passed going by it. I don't remember that number, but that's an impossible tax now."
ODOT sees it too, so they're hosting an open house to convert U.S. 412 into an interstate.
That means there would be no at-grade crossings, where drivers can turn right or left onto a side road. Instead, there would be on and off-ramps to exit the highway.
ODOT Spokesperson T.J. Gerlach says that's safer.
"There's obviously a lot less chance for collisions to happen," Gerlach said.
Gerlach says it's too early to know how long the project would take and how much it would cost, but it would be about 190 miles from Noble County on I-35 to I-49 in Springdale, Ark.
"Senator Jim Inhofe, before he retired, wanted to ensure it was included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill," Gerlach said. "That's why we're doing this- to make sure it happens."
Gerlach says the Arkansas Dept. of Transportation will have its public meeting on Thursday. Then after that all of that, the agencies are going to come together to create a baseline study.
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