Bridge, Road Repair Projects Begin with Funding

Traffic slowed to a crawl early Monday evening as the metro's first stimulus-funded projects got underway along Interstate 44 and Southwest 89th Street.

Monday, April 27th 2009, 10:37 pm

By: News 9


By Dave Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Oklahoma has already spent $320 million of the $465 million awarded by the federal government.

A large portion of the money was allocated toward bridge and road repair, a project which has already started.

Traffic slowed to a crawl early Monday evening as the metro's first stimulus-funded projects got underway along Interstate 44 and Southwest 89th Street. After putting out the orange cones, workers began removing the old asphalt in preparation for the new paving.

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"We do a lot of the road paving and the asphalt work anyway," said Bob Lemon, Vice President of Haskell Lemon Construction.

Haskell Lemon Construction received the bids about a month ago after throwing its hat in the ring through the letting process. The work came at the right time for victims of the economic downturn.

"We've added over 10 percent more workforce to all of our companies, between our trucking company and our construction company," Lemon said. "Over 30 of them have been within the last six weeks."

Haskell Lemon will repave about eight miles of I-44 from Southwest 89th Street to the H.E. Bailey Turnpike. The work will be done at night so as not to inconvenience commuters.

"There's never a good time to work on the interstate, but we're going to do our best to try and stay out of the way and move as fast as possible," Lemon said.

Haskell Lemon will do some maintenance work and guard rail work, a project which should be completed by mid July.

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