The Deathramp

[bugo]

The Deathramp is a ramp that goes from E 51st Street S to eastbound I-44 in Tulsa, OK.   It serves Lewis Avenue as well as 51st Street.  This part of I-44 (Skelly Drive) was opened circa 1957.  It's a very dangerous ramp that will be going away when I-44 is reconstructed and rerouted in this area.  It obviously dates from the infancy of the Interstate system.  When was this ever considered good road design?  There's no reason they couldn't have built standard ramps at Lewis Avenue.  Here's a view of the Deathramp:



And here's a video, starting on WB 51st Street and ending up on EB I-44:

[The Premier]

I was shocked that it didn't have at the very least a yield sign.

[jdb1234]

That reminds me of the ramp from the intersection of Highland Ave and 22nd Street to the Southbound Red Mountain Expressway in Birmingham.  Way too short. 

I was shocked that it didn't have at the very least a yield sign.

Unless my eyes are deceiving me I saw a yield sign for the ramp on I-44

[The Premier]

That reminds me of the ramp from the intersection of Highland Ave and 22nd Street to the Southbound Red Mountain Expressway in Birmingham.  Way too short. 

Or for that matter, SR 8 from the Central Interchange to Glenwood Ave in Akron before it was rebuilt. There were so many ramps that enters or exits the freeway that you are always worried that someone will crash into you.

The ramps on SR 8 aren't the only ones, however; a few of the ramps in the Central Interchange area such as the one near Inman St (closed in the 1980s I think) and the Johnston St ramp (closed in 2003).

[Truvelo]

Regarding the I-44 51st St ramp would a better option be to move the WB 51st to I-44 ramp a few hundred feet to the east as it would separate the EB 51st merge and make the WB 51st curve a lot smoother. I can't understand why it wasn't built like that in the first place.

[english si]

at least there's an acceleration lane from the ramp, allowing the traffic to get upto freeway speeds after stopping just before before the merge.

[Brandon]

Reminds me of the IL-59 onramp to I-55 southbound (built 1955-56).  The former configuration had a frontage road intersecting IL-59 south of the exit ramp from northbound I-55 and only a couple hundred feet from the actual merge onto I-55.  Currently IDOT has moved the frontage road intersection back, but still south of the exit ramp.  It is being rebuilt with the exit and entry ramps further south and the frontage road further north.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=41.50885,-88.197695&spn=0.005833,0.017982&t=h&z=17
(Seil Rd on the map is the old frontage road entry to IL-59.  The current one is on the satellite view.)

IDOT's current construction and plans: http://www.dot.state.il.us/IL59/IL59%20I55%20Proposed%20Interchange.pdf

[Bryant5493]

This reminds me of the ramps on S.R. 166/Langford Parkway, in southwest Atlanta. There's one ramp that might be 10 feet long, from Perkerson Road SW/Lakewood Avenue SW to 166 westbound.


Be well,

Bryant

[Stephane Dumas]

It look a bit like a ramp I know at Brossard (a Montreal suburb) where a ramp going for Milan Blvd southbound meet Lapiniere Blvd to link to A-10 westbound, they slightly corrected the situation by putting the ramp on a C-D system instead of the main lanes. http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=45.46367,-73.45734&z=17&t=M&marker0=45.76667%2C-72.30000%2CL'Avenir%2C%20Quebec

[national highway 1]

The Deathramp is a ramp that goes from E 51st Street S to eastbound I-44 in Tulsa, OK.   It serves Lewis Avenue as well as 51st Street.  This part of I-44 (Skelly Drive) was opened circa 1957.  It's a very dangerous ramp that will be going away when I-44 is reconstructed and rerouted in this area.  It obviously dates from the infancy of the Interstate system.  When was this ever considered good road design?  There's no reason they couldn't have built standard ramps at Lewis Avenue.

What are the plans for rerouting I-44 away from this area?

[bugo]

What are the plans for rerouting I-44 away from this area?

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/newsmedia/i44riverside/pdfs/i44plans.pdf

It's not a major relocation, just a minor reroute.

[rte66man]

The reason the ramp wasn't built farther east was likely due to existing business as well as the slope. If you are westbound on 51st, you go down a large hill. A ramp farther east would have butted up against the Lewis overpass as well as displacing businesses. I am guessing they didn't want to spend the funds.

[bugo]

The reason the ramp wasn't built farther east was likely due to existing business as well as the slope. If you are westbound on 51st, you go down a large hill. A ramp farther east would have butted up against the Lewis overpass as well as displacing businesses. I am guessing they didn't want to spend the funds.

Were there any businesses along this stretch of 51st Street before I-44 came through?  Remember, when Skelly Drive was first built this was the edge of town and the development we see today wasn't there.  The buildings that were along that stretch (now demolished) looked to be post 1960.

I think the ramp should have been built east of Lewis.  The I-44 reconstruction plans show a proposed ramp east of Lewis.

[bugo]

Regarding the I-44 51st St ramp would a better option be to move the WB 51st to I-44 ramp a few hundred feet to the east as it would separate the EB 51st merge and make the WB 51st curve a lot smoother. I can't understand why it wasn't built like that in the first place.

Oklahoma is cheap.

[rte66man]

Can't argue about the cheapness of ODOT.  The hill is a more likely reason.  Skelly Drive was planned and built in the late 50's as a connector between the Turner and Will Rogers pikes.  It was only made an interstate retroactively. I am guessing that ODOT standaards were what drove ramp placement, not interstate planning. My memories of that area all date from the 60's. At that time, there were businesses there, but I cannot remember what and exactly where they were.  You are right that what is (was) there now is more recent.  If I get the time, I will see if I can dig out some history of the area. 

[bugo]

The replacement for the Deathramp is a few hundred feet east of Lewis on 51st Street.  It opened last month.  Also, 51st west of Lewis is now a 1 way eastbound frontage road.

[bugo]

Skelly Drive was built as US 66 Bypass, before the Interstate system, so it sort of had an excuse.  It is long gone now.

[mhh]

Here are some similar inadequate and unsafe ramps in Mackinaw City, Michigan, connecting northbound I-75 with East Jamet Street and southbound I-75 with West Jamet Street. The ramps were built in the late 1950s when I-75 was still US-23:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mackinaw+City,+MI/@45.7836416,-84.7328179,277m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x4d358b3940a9ad83:0xeac771ab20cc7a7a

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mackinaw+City,+MI/@45.783535,-84.732753,3a,75y,37.46h,82.63t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sdygSU_TSkkzIrfiDNUxtFA!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x4d358b3940a9ad83:0xeac771ab20cc7a7a

[Roadrunner75]

The Pulaski Skyway, which carries US 1-9 in northern NJ and is currently closed northbound, has some "merge or die" deathramps.
This one has been improved recently, with at least a tiny acceleration lane and a little better visibility.  You would inch up the ramp wishing you had Porsche-like acceleration, before you finally got your turn to stomp on it and charge directly from a full stop into 60+ mph traffic.
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=40.739309,-74.067137&spn=0.000004,0.00327&t=m&z=19&layer=c&cbll=40.739273,-74.067731&panoid=RVsLZzMYA6J12sOUaYvtlA&cbp=12,235.35,,0,11.87

Two left exit/left entrance ramps are also in the middle of the bridge, for similar excitement.
https://www.google.com/maps?ll=40.736278,-74.085484&spn=0.000003,0.001635&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.736296,-74.08538&panoid=HI_70qSMU3kxNpLKBeprTg&cbp=12,50.09,,0,-6.2

[agentsteel53]

for a while, the Templin Highway entrance southbound to I-5 was a stop sign, ~150 feet of acceleration lane, and a concrete barrier.

one had to merge into a stream of trucks coming down the hill at 80mph.

to aid visibility between the on-ramp and the rightmost lane, they installed ... another concrete barrier.

[jakeroot]

at least there's an acceleration lane from the ramp, allowing the traffic to get upto freeway speeds after stopping just before the merge.

Agreed. It's not really that bad if you consider that it's not an immediate merge, à la Pasadena Freeway.

[Arkansastravelguy]

Just ran into several of them in Greensboro on the US 29/220/70 freeway.  Should be interesting to see how they are gotten rid of if the I-785 upgrade is legit.

They won't be if you are talking about the side streets between market and cone blvd. 785 will diplex with 840 when the northeastern part of 840 is built and will turn north on US 29 near Hicone rd

[thenetwork]

That reminds me of the ramp from the intersection of Highland Ave and 22nd Street to the Southbound Red Mountain Expressway in Birmingham.  Way too short. 

Or for that matter, SR 8 from the Central Interchange to Glenwood Ave in Akron before it was rebuilt. There were so many ramps that enters or exits the freeway that you are always worried that someone will crash into you.

Add to that the signage before the rebuild was horrible as well.  There was little to no advance signage of exits along that stretch -- albeit most of those same signs were vintage 1950's era signage which either slowly disappeared or was replaced.  I used to love driving that stretch because as far as the overall look of the freeway was concerned, it always looked like the late 50's.

[DeaconG]

Here's a deathramp for you, from Girard Avenue to EB Schuylkill Expressway-you better have the hammer down when you jump on this one:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9758853,-75.196726,206m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

That's one exit ramp I refuse to use when I'm visiting home!

[Roadrunner75]

Here's a deathramp for you, from Girard Avenue to EB Schuylkill Expressway-you better have the hammer down when you jump on this one:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9758853,-75.196726,206m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

That's one exit ramp I refuse to use when I'm visiting home!

The South St. left exit/entrances a little bit further south are pretty bad too.  I believe they've extended the ramps a bit a few years ago, but it was always a good merge or die.