State receives $85 million 'mega grant' for I-44/U.S. 75 interchange

Although Oklahoma didn't precisely win the lotto, it will receive enormous sums of money to upgrade the infrastructure in southwest Tulsa.

The state has received $85 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for initiatives connected to the Interstate 44/U.S. 75 intersection, the agency announced on Tuesday.

According to officials, the funding is the largest that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation has ever gotten and is one of nine "mega grants" that were given out nationally.

Tuesday, President Joe Biden visited the $292 million Hudson Tunnel project in New York City to celebrate the initiative.

The structurally dated I-44/U.S. 75 interchange's rebuilding project's $90 million first phase got under way in January 2021.

Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Transportation Secretary, announced by going to the location last October.

When an elevated U.S. 75 passed through in the 1960s, the region east of it was essentially shut off from the rest of the Carbondale population.

The I-44 corridor in Tulsa is targeted by the whole project, according to ODOT, since it is "the most unsafe, outmoded, and overcrowded."

In the last stage, which will start in 2026, the state's oldest section of interstate pavement will be replaced, running from Union Avenue west to the I-244 split.

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