OKLAHOMA CITY – A multimillion- dollar construction contract was approved Monday for the first phase of the US-81 bypass in Chickasha.
The state Transportation Commission awarded a $78,738,426 contract on the project to Robinson Construction, the lowest of four bidders for the job.
Construction will start at the intersection of US-277 and SH-19 at the south edge of town, and extend northwest and north for 7.6 miles to the junction of US-62 and US-81, said Kalie Eldridge of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s Government and Community Affairs Division. The work will entail grading, drainage, at least one bridge and approaching roadway.
The City of Chickasha has already moved its water and sewer lines out of the construction zone, City Manager Jim Crosby said.
The first portion of the project will feature construction of two lanes from just north of the SH-19 junction to the US-62/US-81 intersection on the west side of Chickasha. ODOT allotted 980 calendar days – two years and eight months – to complete the work.
The ultimate plan for realignment of US-81 is construction of a full-access controlled highway of four lanes, six new interchanges and multiple bridges at the county and city street levels. “We have another $181 million programmed for construction of other phases” of the project, Eldridge told Southwest Ledger in May.
Major safety and congestion-relief benefits of the realignment will include “moving freight traffic, including heavy commercial truck and oilfield traffic, out of downtown Chickasha – specifically Choctaw Avenue (US-62) and 4th Street (US-81) – onto the new alignment,” said Mills Leslie of ODOT’s Communications Division.
Last year, average daily traffic volumes in Chickasha were:
• 17,900 vehicles on Fourth Street a short distance north of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike and immediately south of Grand Avenue;
• 13,600 on Fourth Street just south of West Minnesota Avenue;
• 10,100 on Fourth Street two blocks south of Choctaw Avenue;
• 13,400 vehicles on West Choctaw Avenue (US-62) between Seventh and Eighth streets.
• 6,500 on US-62 just north of the US-81 intersection on the west side of town.
“The impact to traffic” because of the US-81 bypass project “should be minimal, as this will all be constructed to the west of town,” Leslie said.