'Road Closed' Signs On Completed Construction Hurting Sand Springs Business

Wednesday, October 8th 2014, 10:58 pm

By: News On 6

Construction is complete, but the 'road closed' signs on the IDL are still up.

One car dealership said it's losing 30 percent of its business because the Oklahoma Department of Transportation won't take the signs down.

Keystone Chevrolet said every day the signs are up, is another day the dealership is struggling to survive.

"It affects lives, people's jobs,” said Keystone Chevrolet employee, Mike Frizell.

Ten employees of Keystone Chevrolet have lost their jobs since the signs went up in 2011.

The signs detoured drivers on the Inner Dispersal Loop while ODOT repaired the I-244 Arkansas River Bridge.

Frizell said that project caused the dealership to lose 30 percent of its business.

"It was just too inconvenient to get here. It took too long to get here,” he said.

For three years, Keystone Chevrolet customers had to take a back road to get to the dealership, just west of the IDL in Sand Springs.

Frizell said he celebrated three weeks ago, when construction on the bridge completed. The dealership even ran a commercial about celebrating the opening of the Broken Arrow Expressway.

"We knew it was going to be a good thing, that business would come back, then the signs never came down," Frizell said.

ODOT Spokesperson Kenna Carmon said signs are still up because ODOT must first clear equipment and barrier walls.

"It's not something that just happens overnight, and especially given just the large area that we've had for this work zone, it does take some time for everything to get back to normal," Carmon said.

Frizell doesn't buy it.

"We've talked to ODOT daily. They have told us every day that they were going to try to get a bucket truck out today and get the signs off, but they haven't," he said.

Carmon said signs will start coming down Thursday, starting with large overhead signs on the IDL; like the one leading to Keystone Chevrolet.

ODOT wants to remind people construction is not complete underneath the Arkansas River Bridge. They're going to begin working on connecting the trail system to the pedestrian bridges.

Also, be cautious driving on the IDL over the next week because workers in bucket trucks will be taking the signs down.