Road work on Lewis Ave. behind schedule; lane changes explained

TULSA — The City of Tulsa had hoped that by now, the road work along Lewis Avenue from 11th Street south to 21st Street would be complete, but it looks as though it will be at least April before they can close the books on the project.

That is unwelcome news for business owners in that busy corridor, many of whom have also expressed concerns about the new lane configurations.

When the project’s complete, Lewis from 11th Street to just south of the railroad crossing, near 12th Place, will be one lane in each direction, with a left-turn lane in the center.

There will be a few spots for parallel parking added as well.

[Hear the full interview with Tulsa City Engineer Paul Zachary HERE]

KRMG reached out to City Engineer Paul Zachary, who explained that the ultimate goal is to develop a more pedestrian-oriented stretch of road, which dovetails with the types of businesses which have moved into the area.

“It’s really gonna become a vehicle and a pedestrian-oriented area,” Zachary said Wednesday, “and we’re actually going to be dropping the speed limits in the vicinity around the redevelopment that’s going up there to 25 miles per hour, similar to what we’ve done like on Brookside,  and then it’ll speed up on the other side of the intersection.”

Moving south from 12th Place, the road will return to two lanes in each direction.

The intersection of 15th and Lewis will now have dedicated left-turn lanes in each direction.

As for the lengthy delay in completing the work, he said the contractor found utilities in unexpected places, and also noted that because they wanted to avoid completely shutting Lewis down, they have had to work in some pretty tight conditions.

“We’re gonna work through this, and we look forward to this one being complete,” Zachary said. “It’s going to be a beautiful road one of these days. Right now, we’re just having to punch through, doing this work in a, in really a confined work space.”