By John Dobberstein, Editor
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Board has finally awarded a contract to begin rehabilitation of the Creek Turnpike in Broken Arrow later this year.
KRMG reported the firm OBC was awarded a $72 million contract to fix the two State Highway 364 bridges, nicknamed “Roller Coaster Bridge,” where they pass over Haikey Creek.
The bridges are 25 years old and will have their concrete deck, parapets and concrete beams replaced. Repairs will also be made to the substructure, KRMG said.
Traffic will be narrowed to one lane in each direction, and shifted onto one bridge while work occurs on the other bridge.
The work is scheduled to begin in October and be completed in the summer of 2027. Contractors have been given a $20,000 per day incentive to complete the project early.
The Sentinel reported in 2023 that this project would be among the first in the state’s $5 billion Access Oklahoma program.
Design work is under way at that time to rehabilitate and replace portions of the bridges, OTA Deputy Director Joe Echelle told the Broken Arrow City Council at the time. The work was to take place from just west of Garnett Road southeast for about a mile on the turnpike.
Motorists have long wondered how the bridges developed those humps. Many Tulsans call the Creek Turnpike in that area the “roller coaster” bridge and Echelle says he’s heard bridges with similar problems named “rodeo bridges.”
Echelle said that in the 1990s when the Haikey Creek bridges were built, construction workers were using some of the very first concrete bridge beams utilized in Oklahoma.
“The beams have a bunch of cambers so that whenever you load them they get flat. And the thought was that over time the steel that holds that beam in this curl position would relax,” he said. “We’ve since learned that does occur, but not to the degree that was planned. So it left a bunch of humps in the bridge.”
Danny Remington II says
I think you meant Hwy 364, not 264.
John Dobberstein says
Thanks Danny, fixed.
Bob Schwarz says
Do you mean to tell me my back has been hurting for 25 years on those bridges? Let’s hope we’ve learned something in that time. I remember when Lori Fullbright talked about them when they were opened. The bridges are still as bowed as they’ve ever been.