The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is installing cable barriers along Hwy 69 through Durant.

O-DOT said the project is expected to cost around $2 million.

The project is one of the agency's summer construction projects, and should be finished next month.

OHP Lieutenant Scott Hampton said the barriers help prevent head-on collisions.

He says the state is trying to install the barriers statewide, to prevent highway deaths.

"Basically it will either rebound [cars] - they'll kinda follow the path of the cable - or several of them that we've seen kinda get bound up in the cable," he said. "They're under real high tension, so a lot of times it will kinda track the car down to the ground."

Hampton said the barriers installed south of Durant have already saved lives.

He said the barriers rely on tension, and are strong enough to stop a semi-truck.