Several bridge projects planned in SW Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY – Bridges on US-62 spanning the North Fork of the Red River and a railroad near Headrick will be renovated under a contract awarded recently by the state Transportation Commission.
Repairs planned for the river bridges 13.1 miles east of US-283, in both the eastbound and westbound lanes, will include replacement of expansion joints and repairs to the bridge decks, abutments and piers, according to Public Information Officer James Poling with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT).
Improvements to the bridges over the BNSF railroad tracks, 14 miles east of US-283, will include repairs to the piers, beams and abutments, Poling said.
Traffic on all of the bridges on the four-lane highway will be restricted to one lane throughout the duration of the work, which will take approximately seven months to complete, ODOT reported.
A $1,763,596 contract on the project was awarded to B&B Construction Service J.T., of Clayton, the lowest of five bidders for the job.
A work order on the project has been postponed to April 2022, Poling said.
Traffic on US-62 in the vicinity of the bridges, which are near the confluence of Jackson, Tillman and Kiowa counties, averaged approximately 4,500 vehicles per day in 2020, ODOT records reflect.
Several other transportation projects are planned in southwest Oklahoma next spring.
Bids are scheduled to be opened in February on projects to replace three bridges on SH-115: one in Comanche County over an unnamed creek just south of Meers Store, the others at two unnamed creeks in Kiowa County north of the SH-19 east junction.
Bids also are set to be opened in February on replacement of a bridge and two reinforced concrete box extensions in Tillman County on SH-36 about three and a half miles north of US-70.
The tentative bid opening next March includes a project to repave SH-44 in Kiowa County, starting 1.9 miles north of SH-44A near Lake Altus-Lugert and extending 7.8 miles to Lone Wolf. Average daily traffic on that route in 2020 ranged from 1,500 vehicles near the south end of the lake to 1,100 half a mile south of Lone Wolf, ODOT records show.