Crews began breaking up old concrete at Edmond Road and Broadway on Monday, Oct. 19, launching a project to replace aging infrastructure and requiring about four weeks of phased lane closures.

The work will unfold in two phases, closing one direction of Edmond Road at a time between Broadway and Fretz Avenue. The project covers concrete panel replacement, storm drain improvements, new traffic signal loops and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) upgrades, according to a city of Edmond notice.

"The infrastructure is 50-plus years old in that area, and it needed to be updated. It was failing," Sage Halbert, an Edmond Public Works field services superintendent, told KFOR. New signal detection loops could not be installed without replacing the concrete underneath them, Halbert said.

During Phase 1, expected to last about two weeks, the eastbound lanes of Edmond Road between Broadway and Fretz Avenue are closed. Eastbound travel through that stretch is prohibited. A section of the southbound curb lane on Broadway just north of Edmond Road is also closed to accommodate concrete repairs that extend into that lane, the city said in an Oct. 19 update to its notice.

Phase 2 flips the closures. Both westbound lanes of Edmond Road between Broadway and Fretz Avenue will shut down for roughly two more weeks. Westbound travel will be prohibited during that stretch.

The entire project is expected to wrap up in about four weeks, weather permitting. The city said the phased approach lets crews work safely while keeping the overall timeline as short as possible.

The intersection sits next to downtown Edmond's shops and businesses. The city acknowledged the closures will limit some parking spaces in the area but said downtown remains fully accessible and open. Halbert said the work will improve traffic flow at the intersection once it is complete.

Edmond's engineering team is working to minimize the number of simultaneous closures downtown, according to KFOR. The city is asking drivers to plan ahead and use alternate routes to avoid delays.

Residents can track closures and traffic updates on the city's road-closure map at edmondok.gov.