OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma City has hired a company to install guardrails along the sides of a bridge where at least four motorists have lost their lives in the last four years.
The Turner Turnpike bridge became an infamous landmark after Aubrey McClendon, an oil-and-gas pioneer, crashed his sport utility vehicle into it on March 2, 2016, going at 78 mph.
The city first made efforts to have guardrails installed around the concrete structure two years ago but the paperwork got lost, officials said.
“With your inquiry recently, we have reopened the project,” Eric Wenger, Oklahoma City’s public works director told The Oklahoman. “We asked (the company) that they expedite the work as much as possible.”
McClendon died a day after a federal grand jury indicted him for allegedly conspiring to rid the bidding process for natural gas leases in Oklahoma from 2007 to 2012. Despite speculation that he may have taken his own life, his death was ruled an accident. Since his death, three more drivers died after hitting the bridge on Midwest Boulevard at high speeds.
The project involves the installation of 350 feet of guardrails along the two-lane road north and south of the bridge at a cost to the city of $25,782.
Action Safety Supply Co. plans to install guardrails on both sides of the bridge by Feb. 21.