Portion of SH-152 Could See Widening Project

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July 9, 2021

By News Director Jared Atha

Thanks to the request of U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, multiple, two-lane, rural Oklahoma highways could become immediate priorities with $65 million in additional federal funding.

One of those highways is located in Washita County.

Thursday, July 8, Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation Tim Gatz joined representatives from Sen. Inhofe’s office in Ardmore announcing the senator’s Congressionally Designated Spending requests for eight rural highway Oklahoma projects, including a portion of SH-152 west of Dill City. The Oklahoma Department of Transportation will use the funds to resurface and add paved shoulders to several narrow two-lane, rural highways.

ODOT officials say improvements to the highway system, such as the two-lane highways will assist drivers with enhanced safety. Rural highways like SH-152 account for nearly 60 percent of all fatalities and serious injuries in crashes in Oklahoma. These narrow highways were built early in Oklahoma’s history for much smaller loads and slower speeds and now are inadequate for modern traffic. ODOT says adding paved shoulders to two-lane highways is an efficient and cost-effective way to improve roadway safety, as the wider pavement gives errant drivers room to recover and provides a place to pull over during emergencies.

All of the projects meet transparency requirements for Congressionally Designated Spending and are included in ODOT’s Eight-Year Construction Work Plan.

The widening project on SH-152 in Washita County will see $4.6 million in funding. Other widening projects include US-283 in Jackson County just north of the Red River near the Town of Elmer, SH-136 in Texas County south of US-412 in Guymon, US-64 in Woods County east of SH-14 near Alva, and at US-21 east of Waynoka, also in Woods County.

ODOT says the projects are shovel-ready and can be expedited once the funding is approved.

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