Asphalt is ready for Edmond bridge
EDMOND — An asphalt base is expected to be installed this week on the east half of Bryant Avenue, north of 15th Street, where construction of a $1.48 million bridge project is under way.
“We will follow with concrete,” City Engineer Steve Manek said. “We are almost done on the east side and then we will switch over to the west side.”
Crews have been working on one lane at a time to help with traffic congestion. An estimated 20,000 vehicles a day travel between 15th and Second streets on Bryant Avenue. At least one lane of traffic has been open since the project started in September.
“We have worked closely with the property owners, and they are aware of what we are doing,” Manek said.
The project is expected to be completed in April.
Flooding in the area has been a problem since 1996, when voters passed a sales tax to pay for a new bridge and other capital improvement projects.
Edmond is paying for 100 percent of the project, which is one of the last projects expected to be funded with the 1996 sales tax money, City Manager Larry Stevens said.
The Bryant bridge project took a while to get started because other projects had to be completed first, Manek said.
“Three or four years ago, we widened Coltrane,” Manek said. “We had to do the work downstream first.”