Projects coming in under budget have freed up $1 million to speed up work on Tulsa’s highway lights.
"With that additional funding, we'll be able to hire an additional crew from a contractor that's currently working on the job to basically reduce our time from summer of 2018 to, by the end of 2017, having all the lights fixed on everything but the Broken Arrow Expressway," said Streets and Stormwater Director Terry Ball.
U.S. 412, I-244, I-44 and Highway 75 are the corridors in line for repairs this year. Copper thefts were a main reason the highways went dark in the first place. The new wiring is aluminum, one of two antitheft measures.
"We've had a few where, before we put the locking doors on, they cut it just to verify, and they did not steal it after that," Ball said. "So, we've made the repairs, and since then, we've been putting locking doors on the light poles as we go, too."
Tulsa Police have arrested 19 people in recent months after a two-year investigation of highway copper theft.
Though the Broken Arrow Expressway is last because of the complexity of the job, a new plan to pursue federal surface transportation program grants will get work started on it ahead of schedule, too.
"This first phase, $960,000 is coming through STP funding, and the local match is $240,000. So, it's great for us because it allows us to rebuild a system and minimize how much of our sales tax money we're using to do it," Ball said.
The first phase of the Broken Arrow Expressway will be from Peoria Avenue to roughly the 21st Street exit. Plans call for LED lighting and aluminum wiring.
