Friday, January 11th 2019, 10:06 pm
Tulsa Police say they'll put more officers in a construction zone on the Broken Arrow Expressway next week. They're reacting to now daily accidents officers say could be easily avoided.
On a rainy Friday, there were several accidents on the stretch of the BA, inbound, just before downtown. They're happening everyday, not just in the rain.
Barrels and barricades block off the road and funnel down three lanes to one - and that's led to far more accidents than usual on the BA. Tulsa Police say several accidents happen each day in the mile before the construction zone.
"We're seeing a lot of crashes on the BA both in the morning and afternoon rush hour," said Sergeant Stephen Boyes, Tulsa Police Traffic Division.
Officers say the problem is not a lack of warning.
"There's plenty of warning signs if people pay attention to them, to let them know that things are about to change," Boyes said.
The problems increase with rain, but the surge in wrecks started just after New Year's when the lanes were narrowed down. ODOT says drivers are causing problems even on surrounding streets that are blocked off.
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"Our crews are seeing drivers go around these barricades," said Kenna Mitchell with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
"They're seeing drivers hop curbs and drive sidewalks to get around the closures, and that's putting a lot of people in jeopardy."
The work beyond the barricades will take almost a year - first, six months on the south leg, then six months of the east leg of the IDL.
Police want drivers to be watching for changes - and the traffic ahead of them. Almost all of the accidents, some with several cars, were rear-end collisions.
"Traffic is slowing down, and people aren't paying attention to the congestion associated with the construction zone and boom - right into the rear end of somebody," said TPD Sergeant Stephen Boyes.
Tulsa police say they'll have more officers out here next week looking for speeders and distracted drivers going into the construction.
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