WAGONER, Okla. — Long-awaited resurfacing work is finally happening in downtown Wagoner after years of waiting. The catch is it's only temporary.
Ashley Waits' days consist of making sure Wagoner fans look good. Her business, The Locker Room - lies along busy Highway 51 – or, as some Wagoner neighbors say, Pothole Central.
She saw more than just the typical cars zooming by her shop on Tuesday. Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation machinery was on deck.
Waits says she was expecting the Highway 51 resurfacing work to be done a while ago.
"We kept on hearing come summer -June, July, they'll start, and that rolled around, and nothing happened. So, that was irritating down here," she said.
2 News was in Wagoner in August and found out ODOT had yet to reach an agreement with contractors to resurface downtown Highway 51 despite getting the $979,000 contract in November 2021. We've since learned the Oklahoma Transportation Commission canceled that contract - and plans to put it out for rebid next month for an estimated $1.5 million.
In the meantime, ODOT crews are doing temporary patching work on problem spots along the downtown area.
"This will come out of ODOT's overall maintenance funding. We are in a new physical year, so we can absorb that at this time. Obviously, it wasn't scheduled, so it will come at a little bit of an additional cost."
ODOT Spokesperson T.J. Gerlach says ODOT is spending $1,500 daily in Wagoner. They've already been out two days – and work may run into next week, given the predicted rainy weather.
Businesses along Highway 51, like The Locker Room, have been dealing with construction for years. They tell 2 News they're excited to finally see some progress.
"There's so much potential here," Waits said. "The thing is, we got to work together. We've all got to work together for anything to happen."
ODOT's crews are planning to finish the work by the end of the week, weather permitting. They blame the increase in the price of the new contract for the greater cost of materials.
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
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
