How Oklahoma has turned around and fixed crumbling roads and bridges in the state

The Oklahoman

By Brian Taylor, Guest columnist March 11, 2024

Oklahoma has one of the largest amounts of highway mileage to maintain of any state in the nation, but for decades this necessary infrastructure was underfunded. In one of the greatest turnaround stories of the past decade, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation partnered with the state Legislature, communities, local and county governments, tribal nations and the Federal Highway Administration to reverse this course and provide critical updates to highways and bridges statewide.

The first step in the turnaround was tackling structurally deficient bridges on the state highway system. In the early 2000s, Oklahoma was 48th in the nation for bridge conditions. Today, we rank in the top 10 nationally for good bridge conditions. As a result, school districts no longer worry about school buses crossing state highway bridges and motorists can count on this infrastructure to get them where they need to be safely.

View the full article: Oklahoman.com