Contractor to get $500K bonus for boulevard
An Oklahoma City contractor is slated to receive a $500,000 bonus for completing pavement work on t he Oklahoma City Boulevard 50 days ahead of schedule, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation said Wednesday.
Allen Contracting Inc. of Oklahoma City completed pavement work on the final $27 million section of the project Aug. 2, said Terri Angier, Transportation Department spokeswoman.
A dedication ceremony was held Monday, and the boulevard is now open to traffic. There was some confusion among motorists Monday because work on traffic lights and signage remains a work in progress, something that state transportation officials stated in advance that drivers should expect.
Angier said all the traffic lights are expected to be complete and fully operational by mid September and work on other lighting along the boulevard should be complete by the end of September. Landscaping work by the city is expected to take longer.
In the meantime, motorists need to be extra cautious as they familiarize themselves with new intersections, she said. Traffic engineers are monitoring traffic flows and will make changes as needed, she said.
The policy of the state Transportation Department is to open state highway project sassoon as pavement construction is complete and adequate signage has been put in place to make the roads safe, Angier said.
Sometimes projects are opened to traffic for months before ribbon cutting ceremonies are held, she said.
With the Oklahoma City Boulevard project, contractors had traffic lights up and ready to turn on at Robinson and Hudson intersections before Monday's ribbon cutting ceremony, but refrained from doing so at the request of the city which has other construction work going on in the area, state transportation officials said.
For the time being, four-way stop signs have been installed at those two intersections and the traffic signals are operating as flashing red lights.
Traffic lights are yet to be installed at intersections toward the west end of Oklahoma City Boulevard. Traffic & Lighting Systems of Oklahoma City is installing the traffic lights.