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Oklahoma City Metro Highways | Small projects and construction
KCRoadFan:
I’m planning on driving down to OKC on Feb. 3 - is there any ongoing construction that I should know about on I-35 north of the city?
rte66man:
--- Quote from: KCRoadFan on January 12, 2023, 12:30:45 PM ---I’m planning on driving down to OKC on Feb. 3 - is there any ongoing construction that I should know about on I-35 north of the city?
--- End quote ---
https://ok.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=023e821ebf7b4acd999ccfd58d92c3da
skluth:
Original article
--- Quote ---Oklahoma approves major upgrades to busy metro interchange
A $75 million project starts this summer at Interstate 35 and Interstate 240
OKLAHOMA CITY —
Oklahoma just approved major upgrades to a busy metro interchange.
A $75 million project starts this summer at Interstate 35 and Interstate 240. The project will bring everything on I-240 up to standard by fixing on and off ramps, rebuilding and paving frontage roads and adding a turnaround on 59th Street, but it won’t come without some painful closures.
"This is, again, like the 235-44 interchange. One of those interchanges that has needed updating for a very long time. With our funding in the past, they couldn’t always go and attack a full interchange with the amount it cost to bring one up to date and so, we’ve had to do this project in phases," said Trenton January, district four engineer at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
The outdated but busy interchange is finally set to see updates.
"Really, we’re working on all of the outsides of the interchange, completing all of the outsides, so that with our next project, which is scheduled in two years, to go work on the inside of the interchange," January said.
The state plans to bring ramps and lanes up to date with design standards, along with paving and replacing railroad bridges near northbound I-35 and eastbound I-240.
"They don’t operate with the amount of traffic that we have out there. The bridges are starting to become older and specifically, at this interchange, there are some traffic issues with people merging off of 240, getting onto 35 where the merge distances are not as long as they need to be. If you compare it to the 235-44 job, that last phase that we did where we built the flyovers and several other bridges, that’s what that last phase of 35 and 240 is going to look like," January said.
When that phase comes is when ODOT expects full weekend closures to take down those bridges safely.
"So, really improving this interchange, making it safer for the traveling public is going to be a huge impact and it’s going to help the corridors 240 and 35 flow a lot better," January said.
Older bridges will be replaced with lots of paving and rebuilding to come. Eventually, Oklahomans will see those flyovers in 2025 but ODOT said overall, the project should help with traffic issues and raise the standards on some of the most traveled on interstates.
--- End quote ---
Bobby5280:
"Eventually, Oklahomans will see those flyovers in 2025..."
The way the time line looks Oklahomans may only see the support pylons of those flyovers begin construction in 2025. Hopefully the project phases of this interchange project will be completed faster than the I-44/I-235 interchange. That one dragged out for over a decade.
Meanwhile it sort of looks like ACCESS Oklahoma plans are back on track. That open meeting violation chapter in the saga is a moot point now. The lawsuits from groups like Pike-Off appear to be going nowhere. The controversy has still delayed the project study process (some of that was supposed to be complete by early 2023).
Anyway, once these ACCESS Oklahoma projects finally get started (2025 maybe?) the construction on each project may go quite a bit faster than the state's gasoline tax funded projects. I don't know when the East-West Connector turnpike will be built. The proposed directional stack interchange with I-35 has a preliminary cost of $365 million. With the turnpikes being funded through bonds rather than fuel taxes that new interchange may be built all at once rather than phases spread out over several years.
Plutonic Panda:
This isn’t a small project and will eventually warrant its own thread but I suppose we should wait until more in depth details emerge.
For some time now the I-35 bridge over the Oklahoma River near DTOKC has been planned on being replaced with a larger, wider, long span signature structure. We are getting to seeing official plans and a schedule for.
The first real movement is this funding request from ODOT for the pedestrian path component complimenting the massive OKANA development to the east.
Here is a link with a rendering and more details: https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/odot/federal-grants/raise/2023/multimodal-connections-on-i-35-over-the-oklahoma-river/application/Project%20Description.pdf
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