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[rte66man]

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority has launched a $5 billion,15 year project. Details are at
www.accessoklahoma.com

More details to come.

[rte66man]

Some of the changes are:
Indian Nation

Indian Nation north of Daisy, Indian Nation at SH-63 near Blanco, Indian Nation at Indianola, Indian Nation at US-69 in McAlester.

Will Rogers
6 lane from Catoosa to Claremore
Cimarron
New interchange at Glencoe
HE Bailey

HEB at SH-5A/Cookietown, HEB at Fletcher, HEB at Cyril, HEB at Cement, HEB at Norge, HEB at SH-92, HEB at Amber

[rte66man]

The Turner is getting most of the love. 6 lane from Kellyville to OKC:

The Turner Turnpike is a vital turnpike corridor that connects Oklahoma’s
two metro areas.  Improving safety and convenience on this road is a priority for the OTA. This reconstruction/safety project will occur between I-35 and Bristow. These projects will create an “urban turnpike corridor” with lighting, wider lanes and the addition of lanes. It will allow for the future creation of truck-specific and HOV lanes for quick and safe access. Design package to include interchanges at Post Rd, SH-102, SH-18 in Chandler, N3503 at Davenport, SH-99 in Stroud, S 481st at Depew and SH-16 and
SH-48 at Bristow.

[rte66man]

WOW, the OKC changes are HUGE!

Extend the Kickapoo south and west to connect with I35 north of Purcell
An E-W connector from the Kickapoo along Indian Hills Road to I44
JKT extension from OK152 south and east to I44 near Earlywine GC.
6 lane JKT from I40 to existing 6 lanes at MacArthur
Directional ramps at Lake Hefner Parkway (EB to SB and NB to WB)
Extend frontage roads past Council to Countyline with a full interchange at Countyline

[rte66man]

Missed one. They will complete the Gilcrease in northwest Tulsa

This project completes the western loop around the Tulsa metro area. The project connects from the northern terminus of the new Gilcrease Expressway West at Edison north and east to LL Tisdale Parkway. It will help relieve urban traffic congestion during peak periods. It will also provide a new and more direct route to city attractions and points of interest in the Tulsa urban core. This will bolster safe access to Tulsa along with economic growth and opportunity. Includes interchanges at Newton St, Apache St, N 41st W Ave, N Gilcrease Museum Rd, Osage Dr, LL Tisdale, MLK Blvd.

[Cerlin]

With regards to the OKC metro projects, the Kickapoo extension will be really nice. Norman will end up expanding and having the alternate NS route alongside 35 will help with congestion and for bypassing downtown OKC. Can't help but feel that some of these projects are a little overkill though. The JKT Tri-City connector has a $252 million budget to add a freeway south of Will Rodgers when Airport Road works just fine (plus I thought it was being upgraded for the proposed 240 extension). Same thoughts with the EW connector in Moore/Norman, I think having the HEB Norman spur and 240 suffices for EW connections for the metro and it seems a little redundant. The combined price tags of those connectors is around $1 billion and I think investing that into public transportation around OKC (can we get a light rail network?) would be a better option for long term sustainability.

[bugo]

Looks like OKC is getting several new turnpikes. Kickapoo extension to Purcell, Kilpatrick extension to I-44 near "Tri-City" (which is something I had never heard of until today, it is apparently the Blanchard/Newcastle/Tuttle area), and an east-west connector from "Tri-City" to the proposed Kilpatrick extension, which will serve Moore and Norman, as well as a widened Turner Turnpike at the OKC end. All Tulsa is getting is a Gilcrease extension and a widened Will Rogers Turnpike to Claremore. We now know that the missing piece of the Gilcrease/Sequoyah loop will be a toll road. I wonder if OK 344 will end at the Tisdale or if it will take over the rest of the Gilcrease west of OK 11.

[Scott5114]

Boy, this makes the I-240 loop designation look stupid, doesn't it?

With regards to the OKC metro projects, the Kickapoo extension will be really nice. Norman will end up expanding and having the alternate NS route alongside 35 will help with congestion and for bypassing downtown OKC. Can't help but feel that some of these projects are a little overkill though. The JKT Tri-City connector has a $252 million budget to add a freeway south of Will Rodgers when Airport Road works just fine (plus I thought it was being upgraded for the proposed 240 extension). Same thoughts with the EW connector in Moore/Norman, I think having the HEB Norman spur and 240 suffices for EW connections for the metro and it seems a little redundant. The combined price tags of those connectors is around $1 billion and I think investing that into public transportation around OKC (can we get a light rail network?) would be a better option for long term sustainability.

The problem with E-W connections in this area is that the only way to connect from the Norman area to I-44 is to loop south to the I-35 bridge near Riverwind or connect up through Moore. If there are issues with either one of those bridges, you have to go way out of the way to bypass them. And there's no clean connection between the two interstates (SH-9 has a breezewood-lite in the Riverwind area, Moore is Moore).

This will at least add a third bridge in the area, though I wish it was a little bit further south, like at about Robinson, so that there's a straight shot from Norman into Newcastle. A bridge in that area will be needed desperately if Newcastle continues to grow as it has been.

Looks like OKC is getting several new turnpikes. Kickapoo extension to Purcell, Kilpatrick extension to I-44 near "Tri-City" (which is something I had never heard of until today, it is apparently the Blanchard/Newcastle/Tuttle area) [...]

"Tri-City" usually specifically refers to the developed area around the I-44/OK-37 west interchange. The shopping center on the south side of the highway, which included an old-school Walmart with no groceries, was called "Tri-City" and had a large sign advertising it as such that has since been removed (but the access road is still called "Tri-City Drive").

Later, the Chickasaw Nation took over Tri-City; the Wal-Mart is now their training center (I spent many an unpleasant hour there getting paid to take unnecessary classes and learning nothing) and the rest of the space is given over to Gaming Capital Group, which is a major vendor who services the slot machines found in Chickasaw casinos. I believe that's where their parts warehouse and repair center is (for when machine parts cannot be repaired in the field).

[rte66man]

Boy, this makes the I-240 loop designation look stupid, doesn't it?

Tim Gatz said something about 240 being a part of one of the new pikes but I missed the reference to which one.

[Plutonic Panda]

[Plutonic Panda]

Boy, this makes the I-240 loop designation look stupid, doesn't it?

I’m not holding my breath but perhaps there’s a slim chance OkDOT will rethink the I-240 thing.

[Scott5114]

Boy, this makes the I-240 loop designation look stupid, doesn't it?

I’m not holding my breath but perhaps there’s a slim chance OkDOT will rethink the I-240 thing.

Probably too late for that—it's already been approved by AASHTO.

As an aside, when I first saw this map, you were first person I thought of, given the inclusion of the east-west turnpike along the Indian Hills corridor. I know you've been advocating for that for years. (Wonder what designation it will get? It would make the most sense to route SH-37 onto it, since nobody actually uses that designation in Moore, but that's probably dependent on ODOT turning 4th Street over to Moore. 337 would do, I suppose, or an I-x35.)

[Plutonic Panda]

Boy, this makes the I-240 loop designation look stupid, doesn't it?

I’m not holding my breath but perhaps there’s a slim chance OkDOT will rethink the I-240 thing.

Probably too late for that—it's already been approved by AASHTO.

As an aside, when I first saw this map, you were first person I thought of, given the inclusion of the east-west turnpike along the Indian Hills corridor. I know you've been advocating for that for years. (Wonder what designation it will get? It would make the most sense to route SH-37 onto it, since nobody actually uses that designation in Moore, but that's probably dependent on ODOT turning 4th Street over to Moore. 337 would do, I suppose, or an I-x35.)

Right now my mind is too happy on the fact this might be very well be our first five stack! Ha.

I can’t even begin to recall the amount of emails I’ve sent in suggesting this be done. It will be a great link if they can get it built. I suspect it becomes one of the most popular turnpikes in the state.

As you said SH-37 could be a good route to go. It would allow OkDOT to give up responsibilities for the current road to the municipalities and save them a little money in the future.

As for I-240, they haven’t started manufacturing the signs yet? There’s still time to stop it. Just leave the designation on a map like I-444.

[Plutonic Panda]

BTW, here is a link to the website if anyone wants to look: http://www.accessoklahoma.com/

[Cerlin]

The problem with E-W connections in this area is that the only way to connect from the Norman area to I-44 is to loop south to the I-35 bridge near Riverwind or connect up through Moore. If there are issues with either one of those bridges, you have to go way out of the way to bypass them. And there's no clean connection between the two interstates (SH-9 has a breezewood-lite in the Riverwind area, Moore is Moore).

I suppose that’s a good point, and at least the Indian Hills corridor is fairly underdeveloped so it’s pretty easy to put a freeway there. I suppose maybe it’s planning for the future as the area between Moore and Norman seems like it’ll fill in with housing subdivisions within the next few decades as the metro expands. Better to put in a freeway while you don’t have to negotiate with neighborhoods. The proposed 5 level stack at I-35 would also be cool to see in OKC, as growing up in North Texas made me accustomed to that style of interchange as opposed to the cloverleafs that are more common here.

[Bobby5280]

I took a close look at the Access Oklahoma map. I wish I could zoom in tighter on some of the details. Obviously there are parts to the plan to really like and others to not like so much.

I'm very skeptical they can get all this stuff built within the next 15 years for $5 billion. Not unless they're getting a big amount of money up front from the recently passed Infrastructure Bill.

Best elements in the plan: The South Extension of the Kickapoo Turnpike from I-40 down to I-35 South of Noble and its combination with the East to West Connector, hopping from I-44 to I-35 to the Kickapoo Turnpike. It's too bad they've already moved to designate the existing portion of the Kickapoo Turnpike as a portion of I-240. It would have made more sense for the East to West Connector and the Kickapoo Turnpike to have a I-x44 designation. No future plan was shown on the map to include a North extension of the Kickapoo Turnpike from I-44 up to I-35 South of Guthrie. Weren't they planning on doing something like that? If that was the case then the Kickapoo Turnpike could be one great big I-x35 bypass of metro OKC.

Another big plus: widening I-44 from OKC up to the already completed I-44 widening projects near Tulsa. That stretch of I-44 needs to be at least 3x3 the entire way.

I think the East to West Connector in metro OKC would be an admission of the failure to build out the H.E. Bailey Turnpike extension correctly. Now OK-9 by Riverwind Casino is basically turning into a Breezewood. There is still barely enough ROW available along existing OK-9 to build a freeway or turnpike closely flanked by frontage roads. The OK-9 interchange with I-35 covers a big footprint, big enough for a "Y" interchange with surface street connections.

The JKT to Tri-City Connector is a half-ass compromise, an attempt to make up for failing to build out the North half of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur up to I-40 and the JKT 20 years ago. The JKT to Tri-City Connector will help a little in the immediate area around Will Rogers Airport. Still, the Mustang and Yukon areas need more efficient North-South movements. Mustang is seeing some of the fastest growth among the few areas of Oklahoma that are growing. OK-4 at least has ROW room for freeway/turnpike expansion going up into Bridge Creek, just short of the OK-37 intersection. In Bridge Creek if they keep developers from encroaching too tight along Mustang Road it might be possible to build from upgrades in the future. The rest of the gap is a difficult problem to solve.

It's kind of exciting to see Oklahoma might possibly get its first full-blown 4 or 5 level directional stack interchange at I-35 and the East-West Connector. There will have to be some serious finger crossing that it doesn't get downgraded into some partial cloverleaf thing.

It's interesting to see all the additional exits being proposed on I-44 between Lawton, OKC and Tulsa. The partial exit on I-44 near Fletcher will be turned into a complete interchange. That improvement has been long overdue. Elgin, Medicine Park and other areas North of Lawton have seen pretty decent growth over the past decade. The proposed new I-44 exit with US-277 South of Chickasha will make it easier to reach areas South of Chickasha and towns like Cement and Ninnekah.

[Plutonic Panda]

I'm very skeptical they can get all this stuff built within the next 15 years for $5 billion. Not unless they're getting a big amount of money up front from the recently passed Infrastructure Bill.

Luckily construction costs are lower in Oklahoma compared to most states. We’ll see but I wouldn’t be too surprised if this plan did over budget a bit.

No future plan was shown on the map to include a North extension of the Kickapoo Turnpike from I-44 up to I-35 South of Guthrie. Weren't they planning on doing something like that? If that was the case then the Kickapoo Turnpike could be one great big I-x35 bypass of metro OKC.

So you would think they eventually will build a northern extension but they need to work with county and city leaders to prevent development that could get in the way and ultimately have to be torn down leading to increased costs for such a route.

I think the East to West Connector in metro OKC would be an admission of the failure to build out the H.E. Bailey Turnpike extension correctly. Now OK-9 by Riverwind Casino is basically turning into a Breezewood. There is still barely enough ROW available along existing OK-9 to build a freeway or turnpike closely flanked by frontage roads. The OK-9 interchange with I-35 covers a big footprint, big enough for a "Y" interchange with surface street connections.

I think the east connector is very much even with an OK-9 freeway. Given ODOTs stupid plan to build a diverging diamond instead of a free flowing Y stack that tells me they have no long term plans to do anything with the road. Short sighted thinking.

The JKT to Tri-City Connector is a half-ass compromise, an attempt to make up for failing to build out the North half of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur up to I-40 and the JKT 20 years ago. The JKT to Tri-City Connector will help a little in the immediate area around Will Rogers Airport. Still, the Mustang and Yukon areas need more efficient North-South movements. Mustang is seeing some of the fastest growth among the few areas of Oklahoma that are growing. OK-4 at least has ROW room for freeway/turnpike expansion going up into Bridge Creek, just short of the OK-37 intersection. In Bridge Creek if they keep developers from encroaching too tight along Mustang Road it might be possible to build from upgrades in the future. The rest of the gap is a difficult problem to solve.

I like JKT to Tri-city connector. It could allow for a future terminal complex for WWA.

Regarding OK-4 they could still build it right through Mustang and connect at JKT with a few dozen property acquisitions. It wouldn’t take that much. There’s a huge vacant chunk of land at the JKT curve for a Y interchange. It can still be done. Planning needs to start. Letting this area get super dense and infeasible for freeway will be a horrible decision.

It's kind of exciting to see Oklahoma might possibly get its first full-blown 4 or 5 level directional stack interchange at I-35 and the East-West Connector. There will have to be some serious finger crossing that it doesn't get downgraded into some partial cloverleaf thing.

I don’t think it will unless they cancel the proposed service roads. I am very excited for that interchange hopefully it doesn’t get downgraded.

It's interesting to see all the additional exits being proposed on I-44 between Lawton, OKC and Tulsa. The partial exit on I-44 near Fletcher will be turned into a complete interchange. That improvement has been long overdue. Elgin, Medicine Park and other areas North of Lawton have seen pretty decent growth over the past decade. The proposed new I-44 exit with US-277 South of Chickasha will make it easier to reach areas South of Chickasha and towns like Cement and Ninnekah.

Yeah I was hoping for some new exits on I-44 southwest of OKC.

My only gripe about this plan is they would have been wise to add another 500 million for planning for future corridors and I didn’t see any x type entrances and exits on JKT by Quail Springs. I also wish they’d add all missing movements at the SH-74/JKT junction.

[DavesTravels]

Boy, this makes the I-240 loop designation look stupid, doesn't it?

I’m not holding my breath but perhaps there’s a slim chance OkDOT will rethink the I-240 thing.

Probably too late for that—it's already been approved by AASHTO.

As an aside, when I first saw this map, you were first person I thought of, given the inclusion of the east-west turnpike along the Indian Hills corridor. I know you've been advocating for that for years. (Wonder what designation it will get? It would make the most sense to route SH-37 onto it, since nobody actually uses that designation in Moore, but that's probably dependent on ODOT turning 4th Street over to Moore. 337 would do, I suppose, or an I-x35.)

Yeah I have to agree with you there as far as the proposed 240 extension, it was approved some time ago so what my thinking would be that the new East-West connector is probably going to be an extension of the Kilpatrick from SH-152 around Will Rogers, onto I-44 to just north of Newcastle and then turning East from there connecting to the Kickapoo south extension, I would probably label that as Interstate 440.

As for the Kickapoo extension, 2 things first off I would label that as either I-335 or I-340 and secondly if you look at the I-35 interchange north of Purcell they did something very similar to the I-40 interchange by building out a full bridge, which would be an indicator to me that perhaps 30 maybe 40 years down the road, the Kickapoo/Interstate x35 or x40 could get extended west to near Chickasha at the Bailey but that would be wayyyyyy down the road.

[FakeMikeMorgan]

I was hoping the Kickapoo would be have it's junction with I-35 at Davis. Would have save about 20 miles of backtracking for those coming from DFW to Tulsa.

[Bobby5280]

So you would think they eventually will build a northern extension but they need to work with county and city leaders to prevent development that could get in the way and ultimately have to be torn down leading to increased costs for such a route.

A North extension of the Kickapoo Turnpike would be incredibly valuable if they're able to build out this Southern extension as planned. ODOT & OTA are pretty notorious for not planning ahead and missing opportunities.

The very least thing they could do is build a Super-2 route along the intended path in order to preserve ROW. They sort of did that for a short stretch of OK-4 going North of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur. When you look at the satellite imagery you can clearly see turnpike ROW going for a couple miles, even including an exit at Fox Lane. The ROW preservation zone runs out just as OK-4 enters Bridge Creek about a mile South of the OK-37 intersection. ODOT planned better with the Duncan Bypass. Unfortunately the Northern extension of that has been cancelled.

Regarding OK-4 they could still build it right through Mustang and connect at JKT with a few dozen property acquisitions. It wouldn’t take that much. There’s a huge vacant chunk of land at the JKT curve for a Y interchange. It can still be done. Planning needs to start. Letting this area get super dense and infeasible for freeway will be a horrible decision.

The prospect of bridging the gap between the Kilpatrick Turnpike and H.E. Bailey Spur by going thru Mustang is getting ever more difficult as time passes. 20 years ago it would have been very do-able just extending the JKT parallel to South Sara Road, straight down to the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur cloverleaf. The area around the OK-152 intersection and Sara Road is pretty built up now with more developing being added. I see only 2 ways to punch a turnpike connection through there. One: build an elevated highway that straddles Sara Road and commercial properties on its East side (Walmart, Lowes, OnCue, etc). That probably wouldn't be very popular. Two: shift to the East of that busy intersection and up behind the OK National Guard recruiting center. OTA would have to buy and clear a good number of residential properties.

Over the long run ODOT and/or OTA may be forced to do something like that anyway. The Yukon and Mustang areas are among the fastest growing areas in the OKC metro. ODOT/OTA may eventually be forced to address the Breezewood zone at Riverwind Casino too. OK-9 is nearly 8 miles South of the proposed East to West Connector. That's a farther distance than it is from the existing I-240.

Yeah I was hoping for some new exits on I-44 southwest of OKC.

It looks like they're adding two new exits between Chickasha and the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur. They're adding a partial exit just NE of the Chickasha service plaza. Then there's a full exit planned at the intersection of CR-1280 & CR 2920. That one will improve access to towns like Amber and Blanchard.

I was hoping the Kickapoo would be have it's junction with I-35 at Davis. Would have save about 20 miles of backtracking for those coming from DFW to Tulsa.

There's no legit reason to extend the Kickapoo Turnpike clear down to Davis. The proposed South terminus with I-35 is almost to Purcell as it is. The primary function of the Kickapoo Turnpike is a regional Eastern bypass for the Oklahoma City metro.

[swake]

I was hoping the Kickapoo would be have it's junction with I-35 at Davis. Would have save about 20 miles of backtracking for those coming from DFW to Tulsa.

People going from Tulsa to Dallas take US-75/69, not I-35. Going through OKC adds 50 additional miles and about 30 minutes of travel time.

[skluth]

I think the East to West Connector in metro OKC would be an admission of the failure to build out the H.E. Bailey Turnpike extension correctly. Now OK-9 by Riverwind Casino is basically turning into a Breezewood. There is still barely enough ROW available along existing OK-9 to build a freeway or turnpike closely flanked by frontage roads. The OK-9 interchange with I-35 covers a big footprint, big enough for a "Y" interchange with surface street connections.

I think the east connector is very much even with an OK-9 freeway. Given ODOTs stupid plan to build a diverging diamond instead of a free flowing Y stack that tells me they have no long term plans to do anything with the road. Short sighted thinking.

I think it depends on the type of expressway is built for the East-West Connector. Is this a Wisconsin-style expressway with limited new access and interchanges at main crossings (WI 29 or US 151)? Is this an upgradeable expressway built with expansion in mind like Las Vegas/ Clark County did on their loop? I'm just curious. Either of these would work fine. I do hope it's not like San Antonio's Anderson Loop south of the city with way too many access points.

[rte66man]

I think the East to West Connector in metro OKC would be an admission of the failure to build out the H.E. Bailey Turnpike extension correctly. Now OK-9 by Riverwind Casino is basically turning into a Breezewood. There is still barely enough ROW available along existing OK-9 to build a freeway or turnpike closely flanked by frontage roads. The OK-9 interchange with I-35 covers a big footprint, big enough for a "Y" interchange with surface street connections.

I think the east connector is very much even with an OK-9 freeway. Given ODOTs stupid plan to build a diverging diamond instead of a free flowing Y stack that tells me they have no long term plans to do anything with the road. Short sighted thinking.

I think it depends on the type of expressway is built for the East-West Connector. Is this a Wisconsin-style expressway with limited new access and interchanges at main crossings (WI 29 or US 151)? Is this an upgradeable expressway built with expansion in mind like Las Vegas/ Clark County did on their loop? I'm just curious. Either of these would work fine. I do hope it's not like San Antonio's Anderson Loop south of the city with way too many access points.

I believe Bobby is referring to OK9 at I35 and not the new E/W Connector.

[Scott5114]

I was hoping the Kickapoo would be have it's junction with I-35 at Davis. Would have save about 20 miles of backtracking for those coming from DFW to Tulsa.

That's actually meant to be the Chickasaw Turnpike's job (the original plan was I-35-Ada-Henryetta). But Henry Bellmon killed everything but what was actually built.

[Scott5114]

My predictions for the numbering (not that I've ever gotten any of these right except maybe 301):

- East-west connector: 337
- JKT extension: 352
- Kickapoo extension: 377 for MAXIMUM CONFUSION. Or, more likely, 309, or an outside chance of 374.


Disappointment: that the Kickapoo/SH-9 interchange is a mere diamond, indicating they don't really expect upgrades to SH-9 at any point in the next 15 years.