“The day has come that we all had feared,” County Commissioner Leon Warner said in a Facebook post on May 24th. A Tulsa man was killed in a crash at the intersection of 81st and State Highway 97 at about 6:30 that morning.
According to Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Michael Haley, 25, was traveling westbound on 81st street and failed to yield at the stop sign where 81st Street crosses Highway 97. Haley was hit by a pickup truck traveling northbound and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the other vehicle was not injured, and police confirmed the cause of the crash as failure to yield.
About a year ago, at the behest of Commissioner Warner and residents of the area, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) began a study of Highway 97, including the danger of this intersection, which has been the scene of numerous accidents since 81st Street was extended from State Highway 66 (New Sapulpa Road) all the way to State Highway 97 several years ago.
According to Warner, ODOT says that traffic lights on highways are still more dangerous than J-Turns, and that they’ll be adding the intersection of 81st and Hwy 97 to their project plans. Work on that intersection is expected to begin in 2022.
Warners says that in the meantime, residents should be “careful and observant, or avoid this intersection altogether.”
