TULSA, Okla. — If you’ve traveled down South Peoria lately, you know the drive can be time-consuming.
Construction projects are never easy and the one along South Peoria Avenue between 41st and 51st streets is no different.
Andy Kohler with Freeland Brown Pharmacy says since the project started in April, he’s seen drivers use the parking lot as a detour.
“We do get a fair number of vehicles that are using the parking lot to simply bypass the light which can pose a potential harm, maybe an automobile collision or something like that,” said Kohler.
With drivers wanting to avoid the area, Kohler says their home delivery service really picked up.
"In our business, we deal across a wide range of patients, but the most being those that are retired typically so it has certainly increased the home delivery side of our business. We've seen that grow a lot with people just wanting to avoid the construction,” said Kohler.
The city is encouraging everyone to keep shopping along Peoria despite the construction, and they’ve added business access signs to make it easier to find your destination.
Just down the road, T-Town Bicycles is also experiencing construction growing pains.
"Having people cut through the parking lot at high rates of speed to kind of get around the construction has been a little bit of a safety issue because we have people test riding in the parking lot and you know there's kids around sometimes,” said manager, Jason Broadaway.
Broadaway says it’s even impacting their lunch hour.
"When we want to go grab something for our lunch break now, we pretty much have to tack another ten minutes on to that,” said Broadaway.
The city says the project includes things like remodeling the old surface of the road, patching underneath the surface and paving with a new asphalt overlay.
Crews are also working to include stormwater drainage improvements, adding new waterlines and new traffic signals at 41st Street and 45th Place.
Despite the construction, both men agree that once the rehabilitation project is finished, it will be an added benefit to the area.
The roadwork is part of the Improve Our Tulsa project and is costing $5,785,000.
The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2024.
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