Section of US-77 closed

Starting today US-77 just a little south of Tonkawa is closed.

They will be replacing the bridge and doing some roadway reconstruction.

The new bridge will be wider with wider shoulders.

Cole Hackett, Oklahoma Department of Transportation spokesperson said this bridge is structurally deficient.

“It’s actually on our structurally deficit bridge list, which just means that the bridge is not up to current design standards just because it is so old," Hackett said. "Also because it was designed in a different era, because we didn’t have high speed traffic or as many cars as we do on the road today.”

This will be a rather lengthy closing because of the extent of the project.

North and southbound at Bird’s Nest Creek is expected to be closed until April.

Detours will be given.

Signs will direct drivers to either US-60, I-35 or SH-15.

Also, east and west bound Cowboy Hill Road will be closed at US-77.

Hackett said this construction could cause some inconvenience.

“It depends if someone travels that road everyday," Hackett said."We have detour signs in place that doesn’t take people too far off their regular route, but we do ask they plan ahead.If there is a way they can go that is not necessarily our detour on the local roads that’s up to what direction they are going, what they feel comfortable with.”

ODOT has been fixing bridges since 2006.

They deemed more than 1,000 bridges structurally deficient and have fixed more than 800 bridges.

All the bridges should be fixed in the next eight years.