Oklahoma Highway 266 to be widened near U.S. 169

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.迷你倉新蒲崗Aug. 26--As director of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa, Bob Portiss oversees a 2,000-acre industrial park and shipping complex that employs about 4,000 people.As a primary truck route for the port, Oklahoma 266 gets the brunt of that vehicular traffic."It's common for 1,000 trucks a day to visit the port," Portiss said. "You couple that with the trucks that go to and from the quarries and cars that go to and from American Airlines, as an example, during shift changes. You also have that landfill operation that has a tremendous amount of trucks."It's becoming a very unsafe situation."That will change soon.The Oklahoma Department of Transportation, along with the Federal Highway Administration, is planning a $12.3 million widening project on Oklahoma 266 near U.S. 169.Beginning just east of the federal highway, the upgrade will expand Oklahoma 266 from two to four lanes for a 2.5-mile stretch, ending a half-mile east of the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad.Right-of-way and utility location is expected to start in 2014, with construction set to begin in 2016.Portiss said he would like to eventually see Oklahoma 266 widened to the entrance of the port and onto Interstate 44, which is the Will Rogers Turnpike at that point."It's a very positive thing," Portiss said. "But it's half a project. We need to finish the other half to realize the full benefit out of that four-laning. At least it's a major start and a good start."Roughly 11 miles of Oklahoma 266 runs from U.S. 169 to the turnpike, ODOT spokeswoman Kenna Carmon said.The stretch of highway to be widened has seen a number of fatal accidents, law 迷你倉出租nforcement records show. A study found that from August 2007 through December 2012, a total of 39 accidents occurred, in which five people were killed and 34 people were injured, Carmon said."This is a pretty long stretch of corridor," she said. "We purposely started here because that's the area where we have the highest number of accidents. We would love to widen it as much as we could, too, but we have to get it to a starting point."The widening will include the construction of two additional lanes and a center turn lane. Intersections at 129th and 141st east avenues will be improved, and the bridges at Bird Creek and the Bird Creek Overflow will be replaced.Trucks represent 26 percent of the traffic on the stretch of highway. That, along with higher-than-normal commuter traffic, contributed to that section having a substantial accident history, according to ODOT.Average daily traffic is 10,040 vehicles per day, which is expected to grow to 15,844 by 2035, according to ODOT.Furthering the congestion is the nearby Patriot Golf Club and the 3,000-acre Stone Canyon residential development, Portiss said."Ten to 15 years ago, Stone Canyon didn't exist," he said. "Now, Stone Canyon is a major community, as is the area directly to the east of it. All of that is combining to cause quite a congestion problem out there."If the port is going to continue to grow and prosper, we have to have efficient and safe ingress and egress."Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2013 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉