By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
A joint effort among Canadian County and two cities will lead to an improved ride for motorists along a road in northwest Yukon.
The $800,000 resurfacing project, along Wilshire Boulevard, is in Yukon and Oklahoma City limits. The two-mile stretch to be upgraded is between 11th Street and Richland Road.
This will be an asphalt overlay and the street will be widened by two feet, according to Yukon City Manager Jim Crosby.
“It is much needed,” Crosby said. “Our contractor, Schwarz Paving, will do the work.”
The cost will be split 50/50 between the cities of Yukon and Oklahoma City.
“Yukon, Oklahoma City and the county are all working together,” District 1 County Commissioner Marc Hader said. “We’re excited. We’ll get in there pretty soon.
“Yukon really hasn’t asked a lot of the county for help so we’re glad to do what we can.”
While the asphalt surfacing is a joint venture between Yukon and Oklahoma City, county crews will shape up ditches, trim some trees and modify the subgrade.
Paving will start once the contract is formally approved, Crosby added.
A ribbon cutting was last week for a new reinforced concrete box as part of the Wilshire Road project.
MORE ROAD PROJECTS
City and county officials talked about Wilshire Road and several other road projects during Tuesday morning’s Yukon Legislative Breakfast.
A city contractor will install left-turn lanes on Health Center Parkway/West End Pointe Drive at the often-busy Garth Brooks Boulevard intersection south of Interstate 40.
“If you’re going east and west, that traffic seems to back up quite a lot there at times during the day,” Crosby said. “It’s very difficult to keep that traffic moving.
“Hopefully in the next 30 days, we’ll be out for bid for that and get that project going.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner Hader suggested working with city officials to repair or replace a bridge on Gregory Road just north of Route 66 on Yukon’s west boundary.
“That bridge was inspected a couple of weeks ago and was found to be in dire straits,” the District 1 commissioner said. “One of the abutments is settling because steel in the abutment has rusted and is failing.”
Commissioner Hader’s crews are finishing up a five-mile oil and chip surfacing of Gregory Road in unincorporated areas from Northwest Expressway south to Britton Road.
