Drivers Going Through Neighbor's Lawn Near Gathering Place Construction

A Tulsa couple is fed up with drivers using their lawn as a detour for the Gathering Place construction project.

The city closed a stretch of Riverside Drive near 35th Street for two years and is only allowing neighbors to go around barriers.

A lot of the side streets connecting Peoria to Riverside are still open between the south side of the construction project and 41st Street, but drivers will run into a lot of road closure signs, and neighbors are now asking for help, after drivers started cutting through.

“It's just been a nightmare," neighbors Paula and Claude Farris said.

They didn't think they would need to keep an eye out for traffic once the city shut down Riverside Drive for the Gathering Place construction.

Paula said, “It's been very scary for people that are on bikes, for people who have babies in strollers; we had to sit out here at night and watch our house, and, you know, try to protect everybody."

Almost all the traffic on Riverside is gone, except for a few construction workers and contractors entering the park's south end.

6/24/2015 Related Story: Gathering Place Construction To Close Riverside Drive For Two Years

Neighbors still need to use parts of it to get to their homes, but it’s the drivers who are ignoring the barriers that have the couple worried.

An old campaign sign is all Claude can use to keep people from driving onto the sidewalk, and his lawn, to get through to 34th Street.

"I still have people disrespecting our yard and they just want to pull it up and still drive through our yard. I mean, would someone want them driving through their yard," Claude said.

He said, Thursday, a driver following a dump truck into the construction site crashed into a fence pole. The two also saw a driver come out of their neighborhood, cross all the lanes of Riverside and end up on the shoulder.

Before the construction closures even started, someone lost control and crashed into one of the couple’s parked cars.

Claude and Paula hope the city will do something to fix the problem soon.

"The road is closed. Find another way. Don't come through my yard. That's not why the road’s closed, for you to make your own new road to come through," Claude said.

We spoke to the city which said they’re working with Crossland Construction and the residents to install a temporary concrete barrier to prevent vehicles from driving through the yard.

They hope to have it in place soon.