Extending my Tinhorn on driveway approach - Question

[Parks 788]

Currently our driveway entrance off Hwy 16 is fairly narrow. Hwy 16 between Bristow and Drumright isn't necessarily busy but cars a trucks use every bit of the 65mph speed limit and then some. When heading West on 16 and making a right turn up our narrow drive it's tight and when I'm pulling one of our 16' equipment trailers or my 24' enclosed trailer, it can be a challenge to keep the right side trailer tires from dragging the ditch. Ditch is about 3' lower than the road surface.

I want to extend the tinhorn with another 20-30 section of pipe on the East side of the driveway and properly backfill. This will allow a better approach when towing up our driveway as well as give the mail delivery guy a safe place to get off the highway to deliver our mail. Currently have to get it all through a PO Box in town because they have no way to get onto our property to deliver mail and they sure as hell won't get out of their delivery vehicle to stuff it in a mailbox. Must be drive up only, I guess.

A couple people have told me if I do any work on extending my tinhorn or widening my drive I have to go through the county? If I understand correctly the driveway approach and tinhorn are on county land. Is some sort of permit or notification to the county needed if I do this work?

 

[SoonerP226]

A couple people have told me if I do any work on extending my tinhorn or widening my drive I have to go through the county? If I understand correctly the driveway approach and tinhorn are on county land. Is some sort of permit or notification to the county needed if I do this work?

The approach and tinhorn are in the county's easement, but they're on your property (which typically goes out to the centerline of the road); AFAIK, their maintenance and upkeep is generally up to you. I know some cities have requirements regarding tinhorns, but I don't know about the counties--they generally don't have any licensing or code enforcement operations to regulate such things. You could call the office of the county commissioner for your district and ask them (I'm pretty sure you're in Creek County, but I couldn't hazard a guess as to which district it is).

 

[Oklahomabassin]

If it is off the state highway wouldn't it be ODOT and not the county that you would speak with?

 

[1shott]

If it is off the state highway wouldn't it be ODOT and not the county that you would speak with?

Good question, I would side with ODOT being who to contact,

My reasoning is when highway 19 was being widened on the stretch where I reside, the crews made the width of our county road access 10 feet, needs to be 20ft for a county road.

They had set forms and poured concrete, I contacted ODOT and was told driveways are 10ft off a highway and county roads are 20 ft, funny thing they had to reset the forms and pour new concrete 3 more times to get the width correct, guess they could not read a tape measure,

Now recently a driver having too much fun late at night ran down the stop sign and road sign for the county road I live on, for that the county came out and repaired not ODOT.

 

[2busy]

My cousin wanted to do the exact thing. ODOT told him how it had to be done. All the cost involved wasn't worth it to him. This was a entry to a pasture off state hwy 63.

 

[Snattlerake]

Wasn't @CHenry a road designer? Contact him.

 

[okietool]

Call the County Commissioner. If it’s an election year it might be easy to get.

 

[rickm]

Just do it under the cover of darkness and no one will know, j/k.

 

[swampratt]

I see it like this.
I do not think the people in charge are smart enough to know if you made your driveway wider.
So do it in a way that looks just like the current one.

I have paperwork on my house I live in that shows an add on room and in 2 different documents the measurements are different.
It was 8x6 now it is 13x24 and I did not pull a permit to build it. F them it is my house and I will do to it what I want.
15 years later it is still here.

 

[retrieverman]

I see it like this.
I do not think the people in charge are smart enough to know if you made your driveway wider.
So do it in a way that looks just like the current one.

I have paperwork on my house I live in that shows an add on room and in 2 different documents the measurements are different.
It was 8x6 now it is 13x24 and I did not pull a permit to build it. F them it is my house and I will do to it what I want.
15 years later it is still here.

^^^THIS^^^