Durant City Council makes changes, extends deadline to construction on University Blvd.

DURANT, Okla. (KXII) - At Tuesday’s meeting, the Durant City Council approved some changes to the construction on University Blvd., including over $300,000 in spending and another deadline extension.

Durant Mayor Martin Tucker says that the money is not one big cost, it’s a sum total of several changes that have had to be made to the construction plan in the past few months, including the widening of sidewalks and adding drainage to a couple of streets.

“All those things, when you add them all up, it turns into some money,” Tucker said. “That’s what we covered tonight.”

The changes also included a 54-day deadline extension. The road was supposed to be finished on Oct. 4.

“We wish it were done already, obviously,” Tucker said. “When we look at what’s happened along the way and the unanticipated things that occurred, that 54 extra days is pretty normal.”

Tucker says that additional time is needed not because of construction delays, but mainly due to inclement weather and unexpected repairs that were not part of the original construction plan.

“If they go past the deadline, then they they will begin to pay damages to the city for exceeding that deadline,” Tucker said. “They’re aware of that, and everything seems to be pretty well on track at this point.”

Officials say there will still be more work to do once the road is complete.

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