The 21st Street and Utica Avenue project is a small project that will eliminate a major traffic bottleneck in the older section of Tulsa. The project is key to solving a traffic bottleneck on 21st Street, as motorists cannot legally turn left at any major intersection between Lewis Avenue and Boulder/Riverside Drive, a distance of nearly two miles. The intersection is located a half mile west of Lewis Avenue and contains several important facilities, including St. John's Medical Center and Utica Square Shopping Center. The project, which is funded by the 1977 bond issue, involves widening 21st Street for left-turn lanes. The present design features a median with a chain link fence on the east approach and four lanes (no median) on the west approach, while Utica Avenue already has left-turn lanes. Utility work is nearing completion on the south side of 21st Street, and construction is scheduled to begin soon and be completed by the end of 1982. Photograph taken June 1982.
