Caution advised as Highway 69/Expressway work gets underway

Apr. 13—A major construction project is set to shift into high gear during the coming week along U.S. Highway 69/George Nigh Expressway in McAlester.

The project will result in only two lanes of traffic for the normally four-lane highway as work is underway during most of the project.

Officials are advising everyone to be cautious as work gets underway on the busy highway.

With preliminary work already started, construction on the main part of the project is expected to fully begin once the initial tasks are completed.

"It's beginning with a lane closure on the north end to repair a shoulder," said T.J. Gerlach, public information manager for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.

That's to get that section of the highway ready for the upcoming work, he said.

It will result in only two lanes of traffic for the normally four-lane highway during most of the project.

Robinson Construction, of Poteau, is contractor for the $5.2 million project, Gerlach said. Robinson Construction has up to 120 days, or four months, to complete it.

Workers placed preliminary signage and safety cones along the highway over the past week, ordering drivers to begin merging and noting that it's a state law.

Plans are for the mill and resurfacing project for the heavily-traveled highway to cover .852 miles which is just over eight-and-a-half tenths of a mile at 4,503 feet.

While that's not a vast distance as far as highway projects go, construction work will involve two of the highway's most heavily-traveled McAlester intersections.

Highway construction will extend through the S. 14th Street intersection, which is the main highway intersection for the Shops at McAlester shopping center.

Work on the highway will also extend through the S. Ninth Street intersection — affecting both main intersections on that portion of the highway.

Oklahoma Department of Transportation personnel contacted the city of McAlester this week that the highway construction project was getting underway, said City of McAlester Public Information Officer Adrian O'Hanlon III.

Once major construction begins on the northbound lanes, plans call for traffic to be narrowed to one lane in each direction on the normally four-lane highway.

While work is ongoing in the northbound lanes, plans call for both lanes of traffic to be traveling in the southbound side of the highway.

When crews complete work on both of the northbound lanes, then the two lanes of north/south traffic will be moved into the northbound lanes. That's designed to enable highway workers to conduct the mill and resurfacing work on the southbound side.

Plans call for the project to include concrete additions on service roads where drivers are turning off the highway at the Ninth Street intersection. Plans are also in-hand to also repair part of the 14th Street intersection.

When work is complete on the concrete additions at the Ninth Street intersection, it will allow motorists pulling on or off the highway to make the transition by turning onto the concrete additions, as opposed to pulling directly off or onto the highway from the asphalt service roads.