ODOT hosts third round of public meetings on proposed plan to turn Highway 412 into interstate

TULSA, Okla. — The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is hosting a third round of public meetings on a massive development impacting several communities.

ODOT proposed a plan to turn U.S. Highway 412 into an interstate connecting I-35 in Oklahoma to I-49 in Arkansas.

After two meetings last year, ODOT held a third one on Tuesday in Tulsa, showing people the potential near 200 mile long interstate and allowing the public to give feedback.

Currently, Highway 412 doesn't meet the standards to be an interstate.

FOX23 spoke with ODOT Spokesperson TJ Gerlach about the improvements needed to change that.

“For interstate standards, you can not have any at grade crossings. That means any cross streets crossing the highway. You can't have direct left turns on or off. So every cross street needs to be upgraded to a bridge or overpass. It needs to be dead ended and add an interchange at those locations,” Gerlach said.

That means a lot of longtime construction in multiple communities in Green Country that Highway 412 passes through.

“This whole process of upgrading 412 to an interstate is actually gonna take a decade or maybe even two decades,” Gerlach said.

ODOT will host another public meeting on Wednesday in Pryor from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Bunker Event Space.