If I-45 were ever expanded

[DrZoidberg]

I posted this in Midwest Roads, as more midwest states, versus Texas, would be affected by an expansion of I-45.

What do you guys think would be a good route if they ever decided to expand I-45?  Seems a x5 needs a longer route (we can also address I-30 in another post).

My idea for I-45 would be as follows.

- Follow US 75 from its current terminus to Atoka, OK.

- Follow US 69 to its junction with I-44

- A new I-44/45 multiplex along 44's existing alignment. 

- Two options here...Follow US 69 north from Miami, OK to Kansas City OR

- Follow US 71's alignment north to Kansas City

While I realize this may not be a high priority corridor, it'd at least be cool to see I-45 extended north through OK...but while I'm pipe dreaming, why not try and connect to the KC area?

Any other ideas for I-45?

[Greybear]

The idea sounds like a darn good one to me. I've envisioned I-45 being extended into Oklahoma along the route you've mentioned many times. IMHO, I'd keep I-45 along US 69 from Miami, OK to Kansas City though.

[Chris]

I don't think such a major route should have a terminus near some small town in central and eastern US. I would extend it to Tulsa at least, via US 75

[Sykotyk]

I agree with this proposal. I've driven US75/US69 north of Dallas before. Beautiful drive, but the congestion in several towns (especially Muskogee) was annoying.

Considering it's rumored that I-49 is already slated, eventually, be completely north along US-71 to Kansas City, I would suggest continuing I-45 north in eastern Kansas to its final destination in KC.

Sykotyk

[Greybear]

isn't that what I just said about I-45 following US 69 north of Miami, OK? US 69 runs through extreme eastern Kansas.

[Revive 755]

But do we really need two interstates that close and parallel to each other without a major uncrossable barrier in between?  If the Kansas-Missouri border followed a decent sized river, I could see it, but otherwise someone should have just picked either US 69 or US 71 and upgraded one of them into an interstate.


I think it would be better to route I-45 up US 75 to the Indian Nation Turnpike, then up that turnpike to I-40, then build a new route along US 75 to the Creek Turnpike, overlay the Creek Turnpike to US 169/Mingo Valley Expressway, and then follow US 169 to Kansas City.

For any St. Louis-Dallas traffic, I would have an I-145 continue along US 69 up to I-44 east of Tulsa. 

[Scott5114]

Question is, can you get ODOT to scrounge up the cash to do it? Otherwise you're looking at a turnpike, and the results are never pretty when OTA gets involved...

[TheHighwayMan3561]

If I-45 is extended to Kansas City, why not have it replace I-29 from KC to Pembina, ND and the border?

[njroadhorse]

That sounds like a plan HighwayMan, but it would be a grid-buster nonetheless 

[mightyace]

but it would be a grid-buster nonetheless

Like I-59, I-71, I-99, etc?

[Alps]

If I-45 is extended to Kansas City, why not have it replace I-29 from KC to Pembina, ND and the border?

Because that's I-49's job.

[Stephane Dumas]

If I-45 is extended to Kansas City, why not have it replace I-29 from KC to Pembina, ND and the border?

I like it and maybe MB-75 in Manitoba could be renumbered as MB-45 
as for I-29 it could be re-assigned to another corridor like the US-81 corridor from Wichita to Nebraska

[Chris]

Because that's I-49's job.

But wouldn't an I-x5 number be more important for such a cross country connection? (I-45).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Either way (I-45 or I-49) it would be a grid-buster  . I favor I-45 because of Chris's suggestion that it would be a cross-country route that warrants the I-45 designation over the I-49.

[SSOWorld]

or I-69 

[texaskdog]

Sorry for bumping an old post but was just thinking about this yesterday.  I-45 turns into US-75 and remains a freeway into Oklahoma, why has it not been extended?

[NE2]

Sorry for bumping an old post but was just thinking about this yesterday.  I-45 turns into US-75 and remains a freeway into Oklahoma, why has it not been extended?

Because Obama hates Oklahoma.

[txstateends]

Sorry for bumping an old post but was just thinking about this yesterday.  I-45 turns into US-75 and remains a freeway into Oklahoma, why has it not been extended?

With other already-interstate-ish corridors being able to add Interstate labels to their sections due to the change in rules for connectivity, they could at least do I-45 north to say, Sherman at US 82, while we wait for some kind of pot-of-gold in OK.  If the DOTters in OK could maybe at least fix the part up to Durant at US 70, then there would be an economic-development angle (the Choctaw Casino is along the highway near there); working on more northerly extensions afterward.

For some reason, other than some media reports I've seen from the Sherman area, there seems to be surprisingly little push from locals/lawmakers/whoever to extend I-45 farther north.  I'm not sure why that is.

[Road Hog]

In Texas, US 75 is freeway all the way to the Red River bridge and beyond. A lot of it is substandard, especially through Sherman, but a rebuild is planned there sometime in the next decade.

In Oklahoma, much of 69/75 from the Red River to Checotah is already freeway-grade. Most of it is divided highway except for a few small towns – Tushka, Atoka, Stringtown, Kiowa, leaving out a couple – along the way. The problem is, these towns don't want to be bypassed. They like the sales tax revenue from businesses on the highway and they LOVE the revenue from speeders.

If ODOT wanted to, it could upgrade 69 the same way 71 was upgraded in Missouri. Just build some bypasses around those towns, get it to tie in to I-40 and that'll be enough to sign it as I-45. But the state of Oklahoma has no desire. This is a very busy truck route and it's crying for an upgrade. It's unfortunate.

[Bobby5280]

Whatever US-69 in Oklahoma is called in the future, the road seriously needs an upgrade up to Big Cabin, OK where it meets I-44. The route has an unreal amount of truck traffic on it. That situation needs to be addressed over the long term.

I would certainly be in favor of calling a US-69 upgrade I-45, even with it bypassing the east side of Tulsa. That's the route that would be more sense for I-45 to be extended in the big picture view of the entire Interstate highway system. US-75 north of Henrietta could stand to be upgraded to a limited access highway, perhaps turning the Indian Nation Turnpike and US-75 into I-445.

It's true there is a lot of local resistance to upgrading US-69 to Interstate standards. But I think the resistance is coming from a point of ignorance. Towns notorious for speed traps often see their local economies diminish due to long distance travelers avoiding the route entirely. Long haul truckers accustomed to the route know how to deal with it. In the end they get less business from travelers and tourists yet the same amount of damage to their streets from all the trucks.

Some towns along US-69 would have to be bypassed if I-45 were to be extended to Big Cabin. Muskogee is the biggest one. There's too much built up alongside 32nd Street in Muskogee to convert that into a freeway. A few other towns along the route are small enough that it might be cheaper to buy up property in the ROW to upgrade the existing route.

[NE2]

Some towns along US-69 would have to be bypassed if I-45 were to be extended to Big Cabin. Muskogee is the biggest one. There's too much built up alongside 32nd Street in Muskogee to convert that into a freeway.

SH 165 is the obvious route for said bypass. Though there were obvious plans to continue the freeway from the curve with the wide median near Summit - maybe that would tie into 165.

And Atoka definitely cannot be upgraded on the spot.

[Henry]

Something to think about: If I-45 is ever extended to Kansas City, then there'd be the argument of which of three routes (I-29, I-45 or I-49) should be extended beyond there, but then again, with I-49 now in the picture, this might be asking too much.

[bugo]

Towns notorious for speed traps often see their local economies diminish due to long distance travelers avoiding the route entirely.

When I drive from Tulsa to Dallas, I take I-44 and I-35 through OKC because it is a much more relaxed drive than 75/INT/69/75.  I don't avoid the direct route because of the speed trips so much, but because I hate slowing down and speeding up, and that road probably has 15 speed limit changes between McAlester and the Red River.  It's easier to just cruise at 75 and know the slowest speed limit you will encounter is 60 through OKC.

[m2tbone]

I've always imagined I-45 going north from Dallas along US 75/US 69 to Big Cabin, OK, then following I-44 to the Lebanon, MO, area....then a new highway alignment (near MO 5) up to Camdenton and following US 54 through the Lake of the Ozarks and Jefferson City....a new alignment from Mexico connecting to I-72 near Hannibal (and possibly north from there to Iowa).  This would put I-45 right between I-35 and I-55 and provide a north-south interstate route through Missouri midway between Kansas City and St. Louis. 

[hotdogPi]

My idea:

I-45, US 75, US 69, I-40, I-540, I-49, I-29.