By KRYSTAL J. CARMAN
Another section of Highway 20 at Keetonville Hill will need securing in light of recent heavy rains.
Early last week, Oklahoma Department of Transportation officials conducted a final inspection of Highway 20, approximately 78 days into construction. The project passed the inspection, but officials found another problem.
“There’s an area about 30-feet long outside of the original slide area that has signs of new sliding,” ODOT Public Information Officer Kenna Mitchell said. “Plans are being made now to add more sheet piling to that area.”
The Keetonville Hill portion of the highway was closed on April 10 after rounds of heavy rain damaged the subsurface of the highway and caused the hillside to slide. A contract bid was awarded to Muskogee Bridge Co., Inc., and construction on the proposed 110-day project, at a cost of more than $5 million, began April 29.
As an incentive to re-open that portion of Highway 20 as soon as possible, ODOT included a bonus of $18,000 per day for every day the highway was opened before the 60-day mark. Since the highway re-opened in 38 days, Muskogee Bridge Co., received approximately $396,000. The crews have been working sun up to sun down — and then some — seven days a week to finish the project.
An additional incentive of $9,000 per day for every day the highway is completed before the 90-day mark is a possibility since the project was inspected well before 90 days. The project was slated for 110 days.
Mitchell said she did not know whether the additional work will fall under the 110-day contract or if another contract would be submitted. A cost has not been set on the new construction.
