51st Street and Harvard Avenue Looking West, Image A

              The 51st Street and Harvard Avenue intersection is one of Tulsa's busiest, which usually results in heavy traffic jams each day except for westbound traffic. One of the worst backups is the eastbound left-turn lane, which can back up a half-mile to the west, usually to near the eastbound I-44 exit ramp near Delaware Avenue. A second bottleneck occurs for southbound traffic. Combined with the Skelly Drive (I-44) intersection, southbound traffic can back up a half mile to the north. Northbound traffic also backs up to near 55th Street during peak hours, and about 53rd Street during non-peak times. The intersection will be improved whn I-44 is widened through the area, which should improve traffic flow. The timetable for this project is not known at this time. According to the city of Tulsa and news reports, the intersection handles about 65,000 vehicles a day. In the background are Kmart, Long John Silver's and the Quality Inn Motel, with Cox Nursery a short distance west of Kmart. Photo taken July 1985.