The Roosevelt Bridge replacement and other updates from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation were discussed during a board meeting of the Durant Area Chamber of Commerce.
Anthony Echelle, District 2 engineer for ODOT, and Eric Stuteville, ODOT District 2 Commissioner, spoke to the chamber board members.
The Roosevelt Bridge and Main Street/Arkansas bridge projects will start in the fall.
“It’s (Roosevelt Bridge) one of the largest, probably the largest project ever in dollars in the State of Oklahoma right here in Bryan and Marshall County so it’s a big deal,” Stuteville said. “So, we got the lion’s share of the budget for the next several years in district 2.”
Echelle said bids have been opened for replacement of four bridges over Main Street and Arkansas Street on Highway 69/75, and he explained the process.
“Everyone knows, when we disrupt the flow of traffic on that highway, it’s not fun for any of us,” Echelle said. “It’s not fun for the drivers. It’s not fun for those working on the project and it’s a long duration project. There are four bridges that have to be built there. The two over Main Street and then the two over Arkansas Street and the railroad.”
Echelle said that to do that, traffic from both directions will have to be routed to one side while a bridge is removed, and that it will take a while but is something that has to be done.
“It’s better to plan for this and schedule it than to react to it and then have to scramble,” Echelle said. “Those bridges are, one set is structurally deficient, and the others are not but they’re on verge, so it’s better to get to them now, plan for it.”
According to Echelle, contractors will have economic incentives for finishing the projects early and a penalty if they are late.
When Echelle asked contractors how long the projects would take, he was told 450 days.
“Sounds like an eternity and it will feel like that probably, but that is the market telling us how long it will take to do that,” Echelle said. “When I say the market, we had several bidders. We had six or seven bidders, which is a lot of participation, which is really good in our business. The competition helps drive that, that’s valued.”
According to Echelle, there is a $20,000 per day penalty in the contract for every day that goes longer than that, but there is a $20,000 per day incentive for finishing early, so contractors can earn up to a $1 million bonus.
“So, we are I guess you could say putting our money where our mouth is on getting quality work but do it in a hurry so that we can remove the pain as quickly as possible,” Echelle said.
According to Echelle, there will be ramp closures during construction for pavement repairs on the on and off ramps.
“Otherwise, there will be temporary connections to get on and off at Main Street, but there will be some times where there will be a full closure,” Echelle said. “The detours, they’re not great, but there is a detour and that is if you’re northbound, get off at the bypass and come around the bypass and hit Main Street and come into town.
“There will be signs, there will be all kinds of advance notice of when that occurs, but those are 12-day durations. So, relatively short, it will feel like forever, but we try to keep that as tight as possible. Our contractors begged us to lengthen that, and we just felt like that’s as far as we could push the duration closing those ramps.
“We emphasized as best we knew how the significance of closing those ramps would mean for the community. To do the work, it’s better to get in and get out. In that window, we will be back and we will be talking to the community and the city and all those before that ever occurs. Plenty of notice, plenty of communication before that occurs.”
Echelle said there will be a change to the southbound off ramp where it connects to Main Street.
“The signal light pole that always gets hit because of the tight turn, we’re going to do some work there to kind of widen that out and move that pole over so that it doesn’t get taken out by a truck,” Echelle said.
When asked by a board member how long the Roosevelt Bridge replacement project will take, Echelle said, “There are three major milestones: Getting two lanes of traffic, basically getting traffic off the old bridge and the causeway onto the new bridge which pretty much forces them to build half of the new. So, they’re going to build half of the new, put traffic on it and finish the rest. So that first milestone, it’ll be fall of 2028 when that occurs. They get done with everything in the fall October of 29 is the ‘We got to be out of here time.”’ Echelle said there will be very little disruption in traffi c while the new bridge is being built and that the elevation will be higher, so the road can stay open if there is flooding as happened in 2015.
The new bridge will be on the south side and about two miles in length.
“Right now, the Willis Bridge is the longest one in the state,” Echelle said. “This will be twice as long as the Willis Bridge. It will be four lanes wide. It will have a traffic rail, concrete barrier in the middle to prevent the head-ons. It’ll have a ten-footwide multi-purpose trail on the side of it so for pedestrians and bikes or whatever wants to use it.”
According to Echelle, it is the largest project in ODOT’s contracting history. He said the old bridge will be torn down after traffic is moved to the new bridge. Echelle said the perpetual maintenance of the old bridge for any kind of public use is not realistic.
Stuteville said Ranger Station Road is closed to the public now because a large dock for construction equipment is under construction.
“There’s a lot more (workers) coming,” Stuteville said. “I know they’re looking for rental houses. I know they’re going to buy a few houses. The RV parks, all that stuff is going to get real busy, west Bryan County and Marshall County, so if you’re in that business, it’s a good time to get ready. I don’t know what the exact number of workers is going to be because there will be a lot of contractors, but it’s a long-term deal, right? It’s ‘til 2029. There’ll be a lot of folks out there.”
For updates on the bridge project, visit www.rooseveltbridge. com.