By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
Construction is due to start Jan. 20 on the much-anticipated State Highway 4 project in Yukon.
The roadway will be widened with shoulders added and bridges will be replaced between Wilshire and State Highway 66 (Main Street) in Yukon city limits.
The first phase – to start Jan. 20, weather-permitting – will be from Wagner Road (at the North Canadian River bridge) north to Wilshire.
Since this is a state roadway, the project is under the supervision of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
At December’s Oklahoma Transportation Commission meeting, Manhattan Road & Bridge Co. of Tulsa was awarded the $13,135,000 contract for a 1.8 mile-grade, drain, surface and bridge project on SH-4.
“This project has been before the public for years and years,” City Manager Jim Crosby said at Tuesday night’s Yukon City Council meeting.
This part of the two-phase project is expected to take about a year to finish, according to ODOT spokeswoman Lisa Shearer-Salim.
Speed limits will be reduced along the project route during construction, Shearer-Salim added.
The second phase will be from SH-66 to the Canadian River bridge at Wagner Road.
The City of Yukon is responsible for right-of-way acquisition for the SH-4 project, and already has started the process for the future phase two construction.
More than a dozen parcels must be purchased along SH-4 between SH-66 and the Canadian River bridge.
Meanwhile, the City pays 20 percent of utility relocation costs for the project.
Utilities lines already have been moved further west in anticipation of construction.
