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Streets, Highways & Bridges
The foundation for a retaining wall takes shape along Yale Avenue between 81st and 91st streets in Tulsa, Okla. This street widening project will expand the two-lane stretch of road to six lanes, flatten and straighten the hilly, twisty segment that has been the site of 177 collisions between 20042012. (Photo provided by city of Tulsa)
Go with the flow: Tulsa street-widening project to improve dangerous stretch of road By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal
With so many communities embarking on “road diets” to calm traffic and increase the safety of everyone who uses them, it can be controversial when a city opts to widen a road to accomplish the same thing. However, that is the goal of the $29 million Yale Avenue street-widening project that the city of Tulsa, Okla., began last fall. The project, which is the most expensive street project in the city’s history, will widen, straighten, flatten and reinforce the twisting, hilly stretch of Yale Avenue between 81st and 91st streets that is considered one of the most dangerous in the city. It serves approximately 31,300 vehicles per day (2017) plus about 17,000 vehicles per day near the turnpike located 1 mile south of the segment. It has seen 177 collisions 50 THE MUNICIPAL | APRIL 2022
between 2004 and 2012, and officials say there have been countless near misses. In fact, most locals think twice before driving along the two-lane road just after a light rain or during heavy traffic, and the defenses that are currently in place are no longer adequate. According to Tulsa city engineer Paul Zachary, this road segment is the only portion of the corridor connecting the Creek Turnpike
