Last year, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation committed $100 million to widening Interstate 35 through Norman, making it difficult for many OU students to make their way to and from school.

Construction began Feb. 15 on the area of I-35 from Indian Hill Road to State Highway 9 to widen the interstate from four lanes to six.

The widening comes in anticipation of massive increases in traffic. The part of I-35 undergoing construction was designed in the 1950s for 25-30,000 vehicles per day, but now it carries about 75,000 vehicles per day, ODOT public information officer David Meuser said. It is predicted that 100,600 vehicles per day could drive through the area by 2030.

In September, many Norman citizens became outraged when they heard the state was considering plans to close the 1-35 interchanges at Lindsey Street and at Main Street. Eliminating those exchanges would save about $30 million, an ODOT representative said in September.

Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said closing the exits was “not acceptable for the City of Norman.” She said it would have a “catastrophic” affect on businesses, Ed Noble Parkway and a negative affect on traffic.

Current plans do not include closing the interchanges, The Daily reported in February.

Many students, especially commuters, have concerns about construction delays making them late for class or work. Traffic delays in this zone are few compared to other sites, Meuser said. However, delays in Norman are in unexpected areas.

“We’re having tie-ups just before vehicles enter the construction zone rather than within the zone … where the road bottlenecks,” Meuser said.

Oklahoma City-based Haskell Lemon Construction Company is contracted to carry out the construction.

Haskell Lemon President Jay Lemon said his employees are taking measures to minimize delays.

Lemon said two northbound and two southbound lanes will always be open between the daytime hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

“During the daytime, those lanes will always be open,” Lemon said. “Any time there is work to do in those lanes, we will do that at night, hopefully minimizing people’s disruption.”

Meuser and Lemon said that both ODOT and Haskell Lemon are working toward early completion of the project, hopefully finishing as early as spring 2010. Lemon said that the only thing that might prevent an early finish would be weather conditions.