Tulsa County commissioners voted to dissolve the county's Highway Construction division, eliminating 32 positions effective immediately, as officials work out who will handle road and bridge repairs across roughly 680 miles of county roads and 180 bridges going forward.
The resolution wipes out a division that had 39 full-time employees and one part-time worker before the cuts, according to News on 6. Affected workers will stay on the county payroll through Nov. 20 and can apply for other county openings during that window, the station reported. Tulsa County Commissioner Kelly Dunkerley spoke about the reasoning behind the closure and other issues facing the county, according to KOKI FOX 23.
County officials say many of the division's responsibilities will shift to the three commissioner-district maintenance facilities, other county departments, and third-party vendors. The same report notes that individual districts will keep handling certain road projects, while larger jobs could be contracted out to private companies.
Three Districts, One Shared Division, Now Gone
Until October 19, Tulsa County's road work was split between two layers. Three highway maintenance facilities, one for each commissioner district, handled paving prep, culvert and ditch work, crack sealing, pothole patching, tree trimming, minor bridge upkeep and snow and ice removal, per Tulsa County's Highway Engineering department. The now-dissolved Highway Construction division was a shared unit serving all three districts, tasked with more specialized road and bridge repairs, signal maintenance, signage, striping, and vehicle and equipment upkeep.
The county's own materials describe the two arms as working in tandem to maintain and extend the life of the system's roads and bridges. Highway Engineering as a whole employs just over 100 people across engineering, road and bridge maintenance and construction, and levee maintenance, per the department's online profile. A county flyer puts the scope of the network at approximately 680 road miles and 180 bridges in unincorporated Tulsa County.
A Structure Dating Back to 1978
The reorganization did not come out of nowhere. The same newson6.com reporting on the restructuring and local job prospects notes that officials have spent several years reviewing the highway department's operations, including the cost of maintaining four separate facilities. That report also states that the department's current structure dates back to a decision made in 1978, and that rising equipment and operating costs contributed to the decision to reorganize.
On the employment side, ten jobs have already been identified for workers affected by the closure, with municipalities, manufacturers and construction companies expressing interest in hiring former county employees, the station reported.
A Statewide Funding Squeeze
The Tulsa County restructuring lands amid a broader Oklahoma reckoning over road money. The state needs about $255 million more annually just to maintain its roads and bridges at their current condition, Transportation Secretary Tim Gatz said, according to the Journal Record. Gatz pointed to roughly 1,100 highway bridges statewide that are 80 years old and need attention.
Construction-cost inflation has compounded the problem, Gatz said, describing the hit to the state's buying power as something that has already knocked transportation budgets to their knees. For fiscal year 2027, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation's appropriation was about $837 million, but other commitments reduced the usable amount to roughly $778 million. Gatz also noted Oklahoma's 20-cent-per-gallon gas tax ranks among the lowest in the nation, a revenue source that funds much of the state's road work.
The pressure extends beyond ordinary roads. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority estimates that reconstructing 311 miles of turnpike outside its current improvement and expansion project would cost $1.9 billion in today's dollars, the Journal Record reported, underscoring how far construction costs have climbed across the state's transportation network.
For now, Tulsa County residents are left watching how the new arrangement performs. The district maintenance facilities and outside vendors are expected to absorb the construction division's old duties, but the division dissolved in an instant while the roads and bridges it once helped maintain are not going anywhere.
