ODOT replacing school zone signs in front of Oologah school on Highway 169

ODOT is removing the school zone in front of Oologah schools on Highway 169, that was a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit.

New signs will simply say school on them and have flashing lights.

The sign will also say 30, even though the speed limit is actually 45 miles an hour.

ODOT's reason to change

ODOT says there are not a lot of students walking to school or crossing the road to get to school.

The mayor of Oologah says these changes are not what he thought the city council agreed to, and he feels blindsided.

Replacing Oologah's school zone

It's summer, so the flashing lights on top of Oologah's school zone speed limit signs are off, and next month the signs will be different.

"So rather than that regulatory 25 that normally helps imply students are going to be on the roadway, crossing, moving around, we're moving," Marty Harris, ODOT State Highway Safety Engineer, said. "Our proposed solution was to move to a warning sign that provides an advisory speed limit of 30 miles an hour."

This is a rendering of what will go in front of Oologah Schools, a yellow flashing sign that says school, with a line that shows the two entrances. It will also say 30 miles an hour, but it's a warning sign, not a speed limit sign, so drivers can go over 30 because the speed limit is actually 45 miles per hour.

"Because we've got those flashing yellows, they're advising you of conditions that make you need to go that advisory speed, then they can enforce it as a not driving the appropriate speed for the conditions that are present," said Harris.

The Mayor of Oologah's concerns

When Oologah City Council approved these changes last week, the mayor says he was under the impression ODOT was installing new signs with lights to make the school zone even longer and the speed limit would just be changing from 25 to 30, but it would still be a school zone and the 30 mile per hour speed limit would be enforced. 

"What I learned today is that I think that is ODOT’S intention of making it safer by posting new signs, but to change it to a suggested school speed limit is what I learned today Is absolutely not the safest thing to do for our students," said George Peters, Mayor of Oologah.

ODOT says these changes are because there aren't a lot of students walking in the area, but Mayor Peters says that's not true. 

"There are students, whether they're going from class to class may not be the case, but they are traveling along the sidewalks from building to building. There are kids that do different things in different buildings every day, and we don't we as a community and we as a school district, we don't want a situation that's less safe," said Peters.

What's next

Mayor Peters says he called ODOT on Wednesday and asked for the new signs to stay white, and keep it a school zone so 30 miles per hour can be enforced. ODOT says they'll work with the city.

The mayor says the new changes will be made before school starts.