Roads and Bridges in District 2; By State Rep. Jim Olsen

State Rep. Jim Olsen (R)

If you live in Sequoyah County, you have seen some of these changes in the last year or so. Cones in the road, increased traffic congestion and travel delays have become more common. 

If you’re like me, you want to go places fast and get things done! Let’s go, don’t slow me down! If we didn’t have all of this road construction, I could get there faster! 

Wait, was I one of those people who complained about the roads and bridges here in Oklahoma? Yes, I was. 

Well, if we are going to have better roads and bridges across the state, then we have to live with the road construction that comes with it! 

Really, we have so much to be thankful for in Sequoyah County. In the last year or so, we have seen so much progress in our roads, bridges and other infrastructure! The roads are looking great. 

A large section of I-40 has been resurfaced, as well as I-64 from the state line to the west side of Muldrow. Several bridges have been revamped and are currently being worked on as well. 

Our infrastructure is improving across the entire state as well. We’ve made especially great progress toward decreasing the number of structurally deficient bridges. In 2000, we had nearly 1,200 structurally deficient bridges. Today, we’re down to only 132 bridges in this condition in the state, so the number has steadily dropped.

These updates to our roads and bridges show a vast improvement from where we were only 20 years ago. Those of us here in Sequoyah County have already seen that they are looking much better! I applaud the work of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation for the work they’ve done in recent years to improve our infrastructure. 

Rep. Jim Olsen represents District 2 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, which includes portions of Seqouyah County.

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