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Public works flags rising fatalities on State Highway 9; ODOT to run a 6-mile road safety audit
Summary
City public works presented a corridor collision review showing declining overall collisions but an uptick in fatal crashes; ODOT agreed to a road safety audit from 36th Avenue SE east to the city limits and staff flagged specific hotspots including 48th Avenue and James Garner Boulevard at Acres.
David, a public-works analyst, presented collision data for State Highway 9 from 36th Avenue SE to the city limits and told the Community Planning and Transportation Committee that while total and non-serious collisions have generally trended down since 2014, fatal collisions are troublingly higher in recent years. “But this is the one that's troubling, the fatal collisions, because that's clearly increasing,” David said.
David said staff asked ODOT (the Oklahoma Department of Transportation) for road safety audits and that ODOT agreed to audit not just 48th Avenue but a six-mile stretch east of 36th. The audit will review collision types, sight lines, geometric features and potential engineering remedies. David also walked the committee through year-by-year location lists that repeatedly identified intersections such as 48th Avenue, 156th, 108th and 100th & 8th as hotspots for different collision severities.
James Garner Boulevard between Flood and Acres drew focused attention. Staff reported one property-damage collision at the roundabout, a separate collision where a vehicle struck an OG&E utility pole (a second, similar collision occurred after the report was prepared), and local concerns about sight lines on the approach. Traffic counts near Flood rose from an average daily traffic (ADT) of 4,244 in September 2024 to 5,651 in January 2025 — a 33% increase.
Staff discussed potential countermeasures. For 48th Avenue and other hotspot intersections, David said earlier intersection evaluations recommended signalization in some locations and that advance-warning signs and possible roundabout options merit consideration. He cautioned that cable barriers are not feasible across sections with frequent access breaks, and that installing traffic signals near railroad crossings carries significant additional costs because signals require preemption equipment tied to rail operations; staff estimated about $500,000 in additional cost to accommodate railroad preemption for the James Garner project.
Committee members suggested options including advance-warning signs, roundabout designs at Acres to preserve continuous flow, and potential council resolutions to reinforce concerns to ODOT. Staff said they already share corridor concerns regularly with ODOT and will be a stakeholder in audit work; they plan to monitor the corridor and return with updates and recommended actions after the audit and additional data collection.
