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[rte66man]

This coming Monday (June 6), the OK Transportation Commission will be having their monthly meeting.  One of the items on the Subcommittee on Preconstruction caught my attention:

http://www.odot.org/tcomm/agendas16/tc_agenda-201606-phr.pdf

Item 5c is the one that has everyone's attention.  Although this study is long overdue, I wish they would have extended it to the west to include the OK74 junction.

[okc1]

Yes.  There was a pond underneath I-44 when it was built, but was since drained.  So the replacement can be much shorter.

[Scott5114]

Of course, the Kilpatrick and the Belle Isle are completely separate agencies.

I figure the Belle Isle is likely to happen, considering it's on the 8-year plan and ties in with the I-44/I-235 interchange reconstruction that's happening too.

[rte66man]

Yes.  There was a pond underneath I-44 when it was built, but was since drained.  So the replacement can be much shorter.

To elaborate, when I44 was planned in the early 70's, the Belle Isle Power Station was still standing.  It generated the power for the streetcar line that ran south to downtown. The lake in front of it served a dual purpose; water for cooling of the power plant and recreation (although neither had been active for quite awhile).  By the time ODOT got around to building the Belle Isle bridge, the lake had been drained and the power plant abandoned.

[kphoger]

But wasn't "Will Rogers Expressway" the name of the road before it was given the the I-44 designation?  Are there still official references to the highway by the old name?  If not, I'd say it hasn't been officially called that since the 1980s.

[Plutonic Panda]

Let's not forget the upcoming reconstruction of the I-44/I-35 interchange which they have chosen alt. 2 on.

https://www.ok.gov/odot/Programs_and_Projects/Public_Meetings_and_Hearings/20151006.html

Looks like this will be easier for them to ultimately continue it east one day to link up with the new turnpike to be built later this year.

I wish they'd turn 39th Expressway into a limited access freeway with service roads like I-240 west of I-35. There is plenty of room. The only problem would be the wetlands by Overholser. Pipe dream, I know.

[Plutonic Panda]

Sorry for the bump but I was reading through old threads and came across this one again. What came from this study? It's been several years now and I haven't heard anything other than they're launching a study and the long term plan was to place it below grade and widen it to 8 lanes.

[rte66man]

Sorry for the bump but I was reading through old threads and came across this one again. What came from this study? It's been several years now and I haven't heard anything other than they're launching a study and the long term plan was to place it below grade and widen it to 8 lanes.

Not sure but major changes to I44 from OK74 to I235 are on the 8 Year Plan