By Joy Hampton
August 13, 2009 — Plans for improvements to SH 88 to enhance safety are on track and will be bid by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation next month.
Those improvements can’t come soon enough for those recently killed or injured in accidents on the state highway that connects Claremore to local communities to the south, including Inola, Tiawah, and SH 412.
Last week, David Blanton, 54 of Afton, Okla. died when his 2005 Dodge Stratus crossed left of center on SH 88 near Willieo Baptist Church. Blanton’s northbound vehicle hit Richard Gorham of Claremore in his 1995 Chevrolet Tahoe. The accident occurred just south of EW 540 on a section of roadway known for its curves.
Fortunately, Gorham, age 38, survived. He was transported by life-flight to St. John’s Hospital in Tulsa and admitted in stable condition.
Tiawah Fire Chief Johnny Golbek said it was the worst head-on he’s seen, but there have been a lot of wrecks on the various curves of SH 88 between Inola, Tiawah and Claremore.
On the south end of SH 88, a four mile stretch of the roadway was widened to 4-lanes from the SH 412 junction going north. The rest of the project has been waiting for funding and is on ODOT’s 8-Year Plan.
According to Division Engineer Randall White, work should begin soon. The SH 88 project is being bid out in September and should go before the Transportation Commission for approval in October.
The improvement project is for “two lanes with shoulders for the next 6 miles,” said White. “We had purchased enough right-of-way to put four lanes in up to Panther Creek. The project we had planned for construction was that first four miles. We had money for purchasing right of way and relocating utilities.”
While the highway will be realigned to “flatten” the curves and make them safer for drivers, the 6-mile section on the slate for improvement will remain 2-lanes.
“We do not have it programed to have it four lanes,” said White. “It’s going to be two lanes with shoulders. In the area just north of the four lanes, we’re going to be putting a new alignment in there that will flatten out the curves.”
White said the realignment will come back into the existing alignment just south of Otter Creek.
“It means we are going to be shifting the roadway to the west and flattening the curve out,” said White.
“It will basically be a new road to the west of the existing road,” said Kenna Mitchell, ODOT public affairs spokes person.
The project was not “shovel ready” for stimulus money, according to White.
“We’ve got $16 million dollars we’ve put in the budget for this, in the 8-year construction report program,” he said. “The bridge at Otter Creek is functionally obsolete.”
While that bridge section of SH 88 is being constructed, ODOT will build a temporary detour west of the existing roadway, said White.
Other issues that must be dealt with prior to construction include the Spavinaw water line that crosses the highway north of East 530. White said those lines will be capped with concrete on the top to protect them.
White said ODOT is trying to address critical areas throughout the state.
“We are looking to making improvements for safety features,” he said.
