71st & Union Intersection Improvements

The growing development of the Tulsa Hills shopping area increased traffic at the intersection of West 71st Street South and South Union Avenue, which was already showing signs of significant damage. The existing four-way signaled intersection was causing significant traffic congestion and the wear of the roadway increased driver discomfort.

The City of Tulsa partnered with Meshek’s design team to replace this inefficient intersection to improve traffic flow and safety.

Dedicated turning lanes increased storage and stacking at the intersection, which helped improve traffic flow and decrease intersection wait times. The team designed a new, wider four-way intersection that included dedicated turning lanes to increase storage at the intersection, which helped improve traffic flow and decrease intersection wait times. Widening the intersection required meticulous measurements to ensure nearby commercial driveway grades were acceptable after construction was complete. Once widened, the intersection provided a smoother, safer drive and increased driver comfort.

In order to widen the intersection and approaches, additional fill was needed. This required some clearing of adjacent timber. Due to the location of this intersection near a Mooser Creek Tributary, the additional fill encroached into the Tulsa Regulatory floodplain. A compensatory storage area was designed and constructed to offset the loss of floodplain storage.