$95M in IIJA Funds to Restart Long-Stalled Oklahoma Highway Project
The halted construction site has spurred social media barbs
Social media is drawing attention to the Oklahoma DOT's stalled I-44 and Highway 75 intersection project while the agency waits to start two phases of the five-phase project.
Image courtesy OKLA.gov
Stalled for more than a year while the Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation awaits additional funding, a $153-million Tulsa elevated highway project stuck in the earliest stages of construction has become a punching bag of area motorists with their witty social media posts.
At a standstill after contractors—including Sherwood Cos.—completed the first phase of the five-phase Interstate 44 and Highway 75 interchange project, with just the beginnings of its concrete structural components in place, the site has inspired monikers such as Oklahoma’s Stonehenge and Traffic Henge.
State transportation officials say the project’s schedule called for a yearlong “holding pattern” as they waited for additional funding and to complete utility relocation and approval of rights of way. According to various local media reports, the project’s completion date has changed several times, but ODOT officials now say construction will recommence around November.
Meanwhile, the project has been the focus of numerous social media posts, including one 16-second TikTok video that received more than half a million views and 15,000 likes. The video narrator calls the project “the under pass that never happened” and suggests ODOT turn it into an art exhibit. Other comments joke that it's “an invisible highway,” or that it should be turned into a tourist attraction.
The highway build will receive $95 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to complete the next three phases. ODOT says federal funding would complete three of the four remaining phases. This is $10 million more than the state originally expect in funding.
A spokesperson for ODOT told local media that bidding will begin soon with a completion date aimed for Q4 2027.
“The next phase will take years,” the spokesperson said. ENR reached out to ODOT but the agency did not respond.
The upcoming phase includes finishing the flyover ramps, but also making improvements to I-44 along the Arkansas River, a new walking bridge under Highway 75 and reconnecting west Tulsa neighborhoods divided by the highway. Additional lanes will be added to both roadways.
