According to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), the project involves asphalt resurfacing beginning at the north end of the Arkansas River bridge and extending north about three miles.
Corn said the State Transportation Commission awarded a contract for just over $1 million for the project to JOB Construction Co. The Poteau company was the lowest of two bidders for the job, Smithson said.
Once construction begins, the project is estimated to be completed within 45 days. David Meuser, ODOT spokesman, said the project should begin in late March or early April, as soon as the weather permits the laying of asphalt, which must be done during warmer weather.
The four-lane highway from the Arkansas River bridge north to U.S. Highway 59’s intersection with State Highway 141 has been barricaded and unused since its completion by Glover Construction of Muskogee about seven years ago. Meuser said ODOT was not happy with Glover Construction’s attempt at the project, and ODOT has not fully paid Glover Construction for that portion of the road.
“We had a problem with the other construction,” Meuser said, “with water collecting under the pavement. The pavement has a drainage problem.”
Glover Construction and ODOT have been at odds over several projects, and were involved in several lawsuits in 2006, when George Paul Glover, and two other company employees were indicted by the state’s multicounty grand jury on one count of conspiracy against the state. The grand jury accused the defendants of conspiring to use stone and rock that were unsuitable for making asphaltic concrete for roads and highways.
In 2006 the company assured the state, in writing, that is would not use unsuitable stone and rock.
Meuser said ODOT and Glover Construction “are trying to resolve the issues,” but U.S. Highway 59’s four lanes north from the Arkansas River bridge in Sequoyah County have not met specifications. The question is who is responsible, Meuser said, the designer or the construction.
Even through those issues remain unsolved, ODOT is going ahead with the re-construction of U.S. Highway 59. Meuser said JOB Construction will lay asphalt over the present road. Meuser estimated it will take about 45 days to complete the job once construction begins.
When that section of the highway is complete, then all four lanes of the new U.S. Highway 59 from the Arkansas River to Sallisaw will be opened, Meuser said.
