Chickasha Toll Plaza on H.E. Bailey (I-44)

[rte66man]

Stumbling around on pikepass.com and found the following:

https://www.pikepass.com/pdf/HEB-MC-59.pdf

For those who aren't familiar with this stretch:



When I heard they were moving the toll plaza (to accommodate the US81 bypass plus the dire need to modernize the existing plaza) I had no idea they were moving this far SW.  Without measuring it, I'm guessing it's about halfway between the US81 exit at Chickasha and the US277 exit by the Comanche casino at Medicine Park (where I44 becomes a free road).

[kphoger]

Any changes to the median service plaza near Chickasha?

[okroads]

Any changes to the median service plaza near Chickasha?

It was rebuilt sometime around 2012 or early 2013.

[Bobby5280]

The service plaza with the EZ-GO store and McDonald's is North of Chickasha. The old toll plaza is South of Chickasha.

I too am surprised they're going to build the new toll plaza such a significant distance away from the old plaza. The new toll plaza will be about 5 miles away from the partial exit at Whitfield Road (what turns into OK-65 farther South). Nevertheless, I am looking forward to OTA getting the new toll plaza built since the current one sucks so bad. It will be really nice to maintain 75mph speed buzzing through there.

So when are they expecting construction to begin?

Some of this reminds of when the Newcastle toll gate was rebuilt back in the late 1990's. I'm thinking it was 1996. The old plaza was pretty close to the I-44 and US-62 junction. The new plaza was built several miles farther South. That upgrade was necessary to add the high speed PikePass lanes. However the plaza would have been a lot better putting the cash toll gates on the outside rather than the middle. That single high speed lane going to the outside is a pretty bad design. Thankfully they're not going to make the same mistake with this new toll plaza farther South.

I'm also hoping OTA can get the Walters toll plaza rebuilt sooner than later. I'm not sure how they're going to tackle that project. The existing toll plaza is literally under the OK-5 bridge going over I-44. My guess is they'll build the new toll plaza either farther North or South away from the existing interchange and then put up small toll gates on parts of a modified OK-5/I-44 interchange.

[kphoger]

So when are they expecting construction to begin?

Has this even been bid on yet?

[Bobby5280]

I'm certain various construction firms have already bid on the project. I'm wondering if the contract has been awarded yet. Considering this new toll plaza was supposed to be built this year I hope OTA has awarded the contract and will be letting the job very soon.

[kphoger]

Well, I'll be driving through there the Saturday after next, and then back again Sunday the following week.  I'll let you know if it's been fully constructed by then.   

[rte66man]

So when are they expecting construction to begin?

Has this even been bid on yet?

Don't know when construction will start.

[Bobby5280]

Hopefully work will start soon. The project shouldn't be difficult to build at all since the main lanes may not be affected. It's just a couple lanes worth of new stuff built to the outside of the existing roadway. It's not very elaborate at all either, unlike some of the artsy looking toll plazas and automated toll gantries getting built down in Texas.

[Stephane Dumas]

When I heard they were moving the toll plaza (to accommodate the US81 bypass plus the dire need to modernize the existing plaza) I had no idea they were moving this far SW.  Without measuring it, I'm guessing it's about halfway between the US81 exit at Chickasha and the US277 exit by the Comanche casino at Medicine Park (where I44 becomes a free road).

I guess they'll have some additionnal future interchanges coming down the pipeline as well, mainly for the upcoming US-81 bypass.

[Bobby5280]

I drove to Oklahoma City yesterday to do a few different things, like get some new running shoes from the Nike outlet store since no one here in Lawton could manage to carry the specific shoes I wanted. I watched the new Star Trek: Beyond movie at the Bricktown 16 theater; I watched it there since the Cine Capri screen has Dolby Atmos. I saw Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler in the theater in the theater lobby. Didn't know what he was doing in OKC since Aerosmith isn't on tour right now. Pretty interesting anyway.

On the way up to OKC I paid attention to the area around mile marker 66 on I-44 leading up to the Whitfield Road bridge over I-44. No work has started yet. It's easy to see why OTA would pick that spot. It's a relatively level stretch of road on a rise between two creek valleys.

I saw some portable message signs near the OK-4 and I-44 interchange warning about road work starting in a few days. I guess they're going to have some ramps closed during the night for this project. It looks like they're doing some resurfacing work.

I spotted some refurbished signs with Series Gothic E/M legends rather than Clearview. Some of these new signs still look a bit odd, almost like they've artificially made the lettering more even bold.

[J N Winkler]

Construction plans are still available (scroll down to HEB-MC-59):

https://www.pikepass.com/Engineering/ProjectInformation.aspx

[Bobby5280]

Does that mean they will remove the plans once construction starts?

[J N Winkler]

Does that mean they will remove the plans once construction starts?

It means that their indefinite availability online cannot be guaranteed.  OTA used to provide access to its entire as-built archive through the "OTA's FTP site" link (still under the "Engineering" drop-down on the link bar), but they have now disabled anonymous login, so you get a login prompt instead of being sent directly to the files.

[Bobby5280]

It appears the new H.E. Bailey toll plaza project on I-44 mile marker 66 is now under construction. Traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction through that area for a good 2 or 3 miles on either side of where the toll plaza is going to be built. I'm guessing OTA is going to do a good amount of road re-surfacing work on either side of the toll plaza. Quite a bit of concrete Jersey barrier has been put up on both the right sides of the road and center. Some earth moving equipment is already carving out some parts of the hillside at the new toll plaza site.

I'm not sure how long this project will take to complete. To my untrained eyes it looks like it has got off to a fast start.

[rte66man]

It appears the new H.E. Bailey toll plaza project on I-44 mile marker 66 is now under construction. Traffic is reduced to one lane in each direction through that area for a good 2 or 3 miles on either side of where the toll plaza is going to be built. I'm guessing OTA is going to do a good amount of road re-surfacing work on either side of the toll plaza. Quite a bit of concrete Jersey barrier has been put up on both the right sides of the road and center. Some earth moving equipment is already carving out some parts of the hillside at the new toll plaza site.

I'm not sure how long this project will take to complete. To my untrained eyes it looks like it has got off to a fast start.

According to the 2016 Project Status Report, they have 368 days from July 11

[Bobby5280]

I can't remember for certain (since it has been nearly 20 years), but I think the I-44 toll plaza at Newcastle just South of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike extension was built in just a few months. I think it was the summer of 1997.

I wonder if the construction company working on the project will get certain bonuses for finishing early.