ODOT Hopes Drivers Avoid Driving Through Off-Broadway Project

If you travel Broadway Extension, you’ve definitely noticed of a slow down with the biggest project in Department of Transportation history underway. Last week, the project entitled “Off-Broadway” got started but officials say that stretch of road isn’t being avoided like they had hoped.

To offer a better idea, the massive project is expected to take place over three years, with a price tag of $88 million dollars, making this the longest and most expensive project in ODOT history. The project is such a huge undertaking ODOT chose the project name “Off-Broadway” to remind drivers to do just that.

Stay off Broadway until work is completed.

ODOT provided maps showing the different phases of the project. The green area is currently under construction. The project includes widening and reconstructing  I-235 to six lanes plus auxiliary lanes between NW 36th St to just north of NW 50th up to the Deep Fork River.

Crews will rebuild three bridges, including the BNSF railroad bridge over I-235 and the NW 50th bridge over I-235. The southbound I-235 on-ramp from NW 50th will also be reconstructed.

All that work can’t be avoided in order to accommodate the 92,000 drivers that travel it each day.

"This was designed for about 35,000 cars a day," Terri Angier, ODOT Chief of Media and Public Relations, told News 9, "so now you can imagine it has already been tripled. So what you see in congestion because three times the number of cars are driving a highway that was never designed for that."

While the area still remains open to traffic and drivers are only seeing a slowdown, Angier says they want drivers to start seeing their alternative routes now. They noticed the area is extremely tight with current construction and say they are still seeing too many drivers. Because there are no auxiliary lanes, they say if there is an accident you could get stuck on the two mile stretch until the accident is cleared.