North Penn, 122nd Street Reopened After Crews Replaced Power Poles

Two busy streets in northwest Oklahoma City are reopened late Thursday after a storm demolished the power grid, prompting linemen to spend days making repairs.

North Pennsylvania Avenue, between Northwest 122nd Street and West Memorial Road, had been closed since early Tuesday morning following an overnight storm. Also closed since that time is Northwest 122nd Street, between North Penn and North Western Avenue. The storm downed 29 transmission poles and destroyed other parts of the power grid.

“We had almost 100 of our distribution - the smaller wooden poles - that were down. We had all of the wire that was taken out as well. So there was massive damage in this area," said Nicole Rhodes, director of transmission and distribution construction at OG&E.

The utility said the storm caused more than 30,000 customers to lose power. Many businesses along North Pennsylvania Avenue were closed as well.

“I also live in this area. I travel this regularly. I frequent all of these businesses regularly and so definitely shocked when you see the damage that occurred here," Rhodes said.

Since then, linemen have removed all the downed power poles and lines from the roads. They also replaced the wooden transmission poles with steel versions.

"Yes, they're typically more resistant to severe weather but there's additional benefits just from a resiliency standpoint," said Rhodes. "As I mentioned, the woodpecker damage and things like that."

As of Thursday evening, only about five business customers remained without power in the area. In addition, the other businesses that were closed have reopened. Also reopened are both North Pennsylvania Avenue and Northwest 122nd Street.

“We’re expecting this area to be back open (Thursday night)," said Rhodes. "We may (Thursday night) and through the next couple days have some single lane closures to allow us to make some additional repairs. But traffic should be able to get back through here (Thursday night) and then (Friday).”

Because the storm destroyed some traffic lights, Rhodes said OG&E is working with the city to get some temporary stop signs.