Oklahoma City Metro Highways | Small projects and construction

Started by Plutonic Panda, July 14, 2016, 08:04:30 PM

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Plutonic Panda

The I-40/Frisco Road interchange in Yukon is slated to be replaced. I'm assuming a DDI will be the preferred choice and the the road itself will be expanded to four lanes over I-40. It is scheduled for June 13th, 6:00pm, at the Yukon City Chambers.

Here is the public notice link: https://www.ok.gov/odot/Programs_and_Projects/Public_Meetings_and_Hearings/20170613.html


Scott5114

Note that this is actually a new interchange that is going in, in concert with the replacement of the existing Frisco Rd overpass.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Plutonic Panda

Good note. Frisco Rd. currently has no I-40 access and there are two major developments here that are likely to either wait until this is built or will benefit majorly from this project when it is completed.

There was a major sports complex and a large commercial development currently proposed in the immediate vicinity.

MCRoads

I build roads on Minecraft. Like, really good roads.
Interstates traveled:
4/5/10*/11**/12**/15/25*/29*/35(E/W[TX])/40*/44**/49(LA**)/55*/64**/65/66*/70°/71*76(PA*,CO*)/78*°/80*/95°/99(PA**,NY**)

*/** indicates a terminus/termini being traveled
° Indicates a gap (I.E Breezwood, PA.)

more room plz

Plutonic Panda

The service roads along I-35 in Edmond are being targeted for redesign including conversion to one way(which I support) and/or possible reconfigurations to the current setup in various areas. IMO, this is a much needed change as a lot of the service road setups in Oklahoma are horrible.

My preference would be conversion to one way and widened to 3 lanes each way with Texas-turnarounds at every light. I would like to see the service roads extended to Covell(honestly Waterloo would be optimal) and pass under 2nd St. I would also like to see the ramps reconfigured to a tight urban diamond interchange with the Second St. bridge rebuilt and straightened as an SPUI. I also want to see new bridges built at the half mile in between 2nd St. and 33rd. Most importantly, I think a new bridge is warranted between Fox Lake Plaza development and Intergris Hospital.

As I was posting I just realized they have already had the presentation and are considering increasing capacity on I-35 which is great. I will post the links and read through the presentation and post highlights on another post.

Presentation: http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/meetings/a2017/171026/Presentation.pdf

OkDOT meeting page: https://www.ok.gov/odot/Programs_and_Projects/Public_Meetings_and_Hearings/20171026_I-35.html

Plutonic Panda

It doesn't look like they have a preferred alternative but from the looks of it they appear to be leaning towards the one way service roads. They had a lot of redundant images on the presentation. The study area also goes to Waterloo Rd. which I didn't realize. Maybe they are considering extensions. This could easily be a 100m+ dollar project if they really went all out even without my wishes of the 2nd. St. bridge rebuild. I didn't see any schematics detailed alignments of the alternatives which I would have liked to see.

There really isn't much to post. Didn't see any other plans of widening I-35 other than the plans to improve capacity which is sort of vague. Don't know if they mean increase capacity or improve it through redesigns by moving traffic faster. Maybe the presentation they posted was buggy or something.

Plutonic Panda


Plutonic Panda

Well I do believe at some point a pedestrian/bicycle path is going over I-35 somewhere. I'm not sure how far along these plans are. I will wait until OkDOT has selected an alternative–which I thought for some reason they would do–but I agree with you here, if the final plans don't include dedicated bike lanes(preferably it's own protected path) and sidewalks that will be disappointing.

Plutonic Panda

#58
Well I hate bicycle lanes with a passion. I ride my bicycle a lot and from my experience, they are very dangerous. The proper way would be to create a dedicated bicycle path along every road where each path is on one side of the street and both ways intersect themselves. The ROW is so large here they could have multiuse paths on each side completely speedster from the roadway.

Either way, email OkDOT and let your voice be heard. I did but I forgot to include anything about bicyclists or sidewalks. I don't see anything being done here for another 5 Years, so im sure they're open to comments.

MCRoads

this is awesome, OKC is ACTUALLY getting the streetcar! the tracks are in, now all they have to do is make the stations!

MAPS3 is actually doing what it promised!
I build roads on Minecraft. Like, really good roads.
Interstates traveled:
4/5/10*/11**/12**/15/25*/29*/35(E/W[TX])/40*/44**/49(LA**)/55*/64**/65/66*/70°/71*76(PA*,CO*)/78*°/80*/95°/99(PA**,NY**)

*/** indicates a terminus/termini being traveled
° Indicates a gap (I.E Breezwood, PA.)

more room plz

US 89

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on October 28, 2017, 06:42:25 PM
Well I hate bicycle lanes with a passion. I ride my bicycle a lot and from my experience, they are very dangerous. The proper way would be to create a dedicated bicycle path along every road where each path is on one side of the street and both ways intersect themselves. The ROW is so large here they could have multiuse paths on each side completely speedster from the roadway.

Are you referring to something like this or this?
This has been done on most of 300 South and 200 West in Salt Lake City (and the second link above is the intersection of those two streets). The problem with having the curbs separating the bike lanes from the road was that they violated the fire code, since fire trucks could not pull up right next to the building which could be on fire.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: roadguy2 on November 01, 2017, 05:16:52 PM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on October 28, 2017, 06:42:25 PM
Well I hate bicycle lanes with a passion. I ride my bicycle a lot and from my experience, they are very dangerous. The proper way would be to create a dedicated bicycle path along every road where each path is on one side of the street and both ways intersect themselves. The ROW is so large here they could have multiuse paths on each side completely speedster from the roadway.

Are you referring to something like this or this?
This has been done on most of 300 South and 200 West in Salt Lake City (and the second link above is the intersection of those two streets). The problem with having the curbs separating the bike lanes from the road was that they violated the fire code, since fire trucks could not pull up right next to the building which could be on fire.
I would prefer the latter but I want the bicycle traffic to be two way.

Plutonic Panda

Fifth and Sixth St. exit and entrance ramps at I-235 are apparently being considered for a redo. Not sure what kinds of changes are coming but from the looks of it I don't know that anything that doesn't come with a rather large price tag could do much. I'm scratching my head trying think what could be done here. I'll probably catch hell for this and this a rare exception I make but I think the ramps should removed entirely and a cap be over the freeway even though it will make traffic worse. That isn't happening though and I'm thinking of maybe creating a new on ramp to I-235 north bound from Harrison like this set-up on I-5 in Anaheim but perhaps more towards the center of the bridge and braid the ramps obviously under or over the 10th st. exit(https://www.google.com/maps/@33.8365282,-117.9413,431m/data=!3m1!1e3).

That could at least solve the I-235 northbound access ramp issue and could eliminate that cloverleaf ramp. For the I-235 south bound access ramp, they could try and braid it with Lincoln access ramp but I don't know if there is enough room. They really fucked up by not directly connecting Lincoln BLVD. when they redid I-40 by giving it a direct connection at Reno and having ramps connecting it to all directions in the I-235/I-35/I-40 mix master. It sure would have been expensive but worth it as Lincoln BLVD. is an important road. IMO, that mix master needs about a billion dollar overhaul so drivers on I-35 have their own dedicated bridge without having to touch I-40 and new flyovers added.

I have thought about possibly an elevated roundabout for restricted access for either the I-235 south bound exit ramp into Deep Deuce or possibly grade separating Harrison and even compromising standards but I don't think there's enough room to even do that. Hopefully they don't go for a roundabout which is what I'm suspecting they might do. I will be very interested to see what is proposed for this location.

This article highlights some developments coming to the immediate area but it shows work is being eyed for this area:

QuoteFar more complex challenges are posed by the Fifth and Sixth Street entrances and exits from I-235. The dips under the railway viaduct always made these connections less than ideal, especially for trucks that repeatedly get stuck under the relatively low spans.

The choices faced by travelers going to and from I-235 are, as Russell points out, "a nightmare."  Those exiting I-235 at Sixth have a choice of two different right turns, a left turn, going straight, but don't dare make that third right turn onto Fifth that is still one-way to Broadway.

When I-235 was built three decades ago, these otherwise fatal flaws were offset by the fact most of the properties in the area consisted of empty lots and abandoned buildings. Traffic flowed out onto what was then a pair of one-way streets that, as I mentioned, were the result of engineers needing an east-west bypass in the days before the opening of I-40.

Add into this scenario that we are set to have a new major I-235 access point to downtown from the Oklahoma City Boulevard that is free of these complications and is designed to accommodate the mix of vehicular, pedestrian and even streetcar traffic that is our new reality.

Developers throughout the area agree, it's time to do something with the Fifth and Sixth Street connections to I-235. Public Works Director Eric Wenger and Planning Director Aubrey Hammontree have visited in recent months about the area's overall development, though Wenger admits the highway connections themselves have yet to rise up in that conversation because they haven't heard of the developers' concerns.

Now it will.

Likewise, Brian Taylor, division engineer for north central division of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, says he also is interested in starting a discussion about whether changes are needed along I-235 at Fifth and Sixth Streets. Usually, he said, such discussions are initiated by the city.

He notes major work is ahead for the I-35 and I-40 junction and the department is widening the NE 23 exit from northbound I-235 to address similar inadequacies of past designs.

I don't have the answers on what changes are needed. But change is coming, and it's painfully obvious the I-235 egress that was awkward at best 30 years ago is now about to become a potentially deadly hazard in years to come.

- http://newsok.com/future-overload-development-may-require-traffic-changes-at-sixth-street/article/5590279

Plutonic Panda

It seems to me some new braiding of the ramps is in order but I'm not an engineer so I don't know if there is enough to do the things I suggested. As far as pedestrian safety goes, that one is a very easy fix but probably won't see the light of day even if the funds were there. Add Las Vegas style pedestrian bridge crossings or essentially a pedestrian and bike only elevated roundabout. My guess would be around 20-30 million dollars to do that.

bugo

Texas-style U turn ramps and one way frontage roads are great. There are some U ramps near me and I use them nearly every time I go somewhere. Whoever invented them should be sainted.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: bugo on April 10, 2018, 08:24:11 PM
Texas-style U turn ramps and one way frontage roads are great. There are some U ramps near me and I use them nearly every time I go somewhere. Whoever invented them should be sainted.
Completely agree and imo, unless due to space constraints or other usual circumstances, I always irk at two way frontage roads in urban areas. OKC has several instances of this in Edmond, I-35 in NE OKC, I-35 though Moore are all two way frontage roads. Edmond is converting to one way whenever they can find the funds which it seems like they are prioritizing it.

TXtoNJ

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 10, 2018, 10:49:55 PMbicycles are outdated and the way of the past. Cars are the future

Lol no. They're different modes serving different needs.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: TXtoNJ on April 11, 2018, 10:07:54 AM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 10, 2018, 10:49:55 PMbicycles are outdated and the way of the past. Cars are the future

Lol no. They're different modes serving different needs.
Today, yes. Not in the past when they were invented.

Bobby5280

Quote from: Plutonic PandaI am suggesting bikes get their own road network the parallel roads and even have their own signals. Most would be synchronized with traffic signals. What I want will never happen though and I generally don't support other bike infrastructure due to the fact it is stupid to allow bicycles on roads with cars that can 100MPH. Even when the speed limit is 30MPH bikes rarely get that fast. Though I am a bit of a hypocrite because I bike a lot on roads in LA, bicycles are outdated and the way of the past. Cars are the future and bicycles should stick to dedicated trails or widened sidewalks. They just need to stay out of vehicle traffic. It isn't safe and slows down motorist which shouldn't be tolerated. I always do my best to stay far to the right as possible and ride on the sidewalk when I don't see anyone. Other than that I am more and more finding myself using my car to transport my bike to dedicated trails unless I cruise the LA river to DTLA.

Bicyclists may legally have a right to the road, but what would that law be worth to a bicyclist after he gets splattered by a compulsive phone-using motorist? Once the bicyclist is killed laws won't bring him back to life. Other people might get paid in any resulting legal action (and that's a big "IF"). The dead bicyclist is just going to be dead. If the bicyclist survives the accident but is seriously injured, permanently disabled, etc what little money he "wins" (after the attorneys take most of it) won't go far at offsetting his greatly diminished quality of life.

We have a few streets here in Lawton marked as "shared" vehicle/bicycle roads. I think they're mostly useless. I personally only ride my trail bike on paths and trails where there are no cars present. I very strongly dislike taking any chances at all riding my bike on any of the streets here. That's because I know how brain dead stupid and distracted way too many motorists can be. Some motorists are even openly hostile to people on bicycles. If one runs over me I'm sure the distracted driver would probably be genuinely sorry and sobbing out tearful apologies to the judge. But, again, if you're a bicyclist killed by a distracted driver their apologies won't make any difference to you after you're dead.

The reality is way way too many people are driving down the road with their heads embedded deep in their @$$. That's the fact and you have to manage/reduce your risks around that situation. To me that means never giving the jerks a chance to run over me in the first place.

I wish Lawton had a dedicated bike path network, but this town just doesn't have the tax base to support such a thing. I don't think we have the "culture" present to support such a thing either.

Regarding making bike path networks that are separate, but parallel to existing roads (even with their own signals, etc) I don't see how such a thing would be possible without building these bike paths on a bunch of grade separated bridges and under passes. That would be crazy expensive (especially if we're building such a thing here in the price gouging United States).

TXtoNJ

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 11, 2018, 03:55:51 PM
Quote from: TXtoNJ on April 11, 2018, 10:07:54 AM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 10, 2018, 10:49:55 PMbicycles are outdated and the way of the past. Cars are the future

Lol no. They're different modes serving different needs.
Today, yes. Not in the past when they were invented.

Modern bikes were invented in the 1880s, same as the automobile. Trains and streetcars were the commuting modes in those days, not bikes.

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: TXtoNJ on April 11, 2018, 04:27:24 PM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 11, 2018, 03:55:51 PM
Quote from: TXtoNJ on April 11, 2018, 10:07:54 AM
Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 10, 2018, 10:49:55 PMbicycles are outdated and the way of the past. Cars are the future

Lol no. They're different modes serving different needs.
Today, yes. Not in the past when they were invented.

Modern bikes were invented in the 1880s, same as the automobile. Trains and streetcars were the commuting modes in those days, not bikes.
Cars weren't mass produced or affordable until the 1930s or 1940s so not the same thing.

Scott5114

I dunno, I think the extra ten feet or whatever of ROW that bike lanes take up is money well spent. Hoping we get some expansion of the current network here in Norman (the city seems interested in expanding its bike facilities, so it's a good possibility).
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Plutonic Panda

Quote from: Scott5114 on April 11, 2018, 09:51:46 PM
I dunno, I think the extra ten feet or whatever of ROW that bike lanes take up is money well spent. Hoping we get some expansion of the current network here in Norman (the city seems interested in expanding its bike facilities, so it's a good possibility).
That is a lot of ROW taken up. That could be a car lane and instead goes to bike lanes that are almost always empty. If they want to to just slap some paint on each side of a road that doesn't have any lane reduction, then I'll support that. You sure won't see me using them much though.

Scott5114

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 11, 2018, 10:20:07 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 11, 2018, 09:51:46 PM
I dunno, I think the extra ten feet or whatever of ROW that bike lanes take up is money well spent. Hoping we get some expansion of the current network here in Norman (the city seems interested in expanding its bike facilities, so it's a good possibility).
That is a lot of ROW taken up. That could be a car lane and instead goes to bike lanes that are almost always empty. If they want to to just slap some paint on each side of a road that doesn't have any lane reduction, then I'll support that. You sure won't see me using them much though.

"Road diets" have not yet made their way to Oklahoma, so any bike lanes that are installed are as part of a widening or elimination of on-street parking. Most existing bike lanes in Norman are on streets that don't warrant any more than two lanes to begin with. It would be hard to see what, say, Oakhurst Avenue needs a third lane for. The new West Lindsey Street bike lanes, the first installation of bike lanes in Norman, were installed as part of a project to widen the street from three to four lanes with median.

In many cases, obtaining extra ROW would not be terribly hard since most properties in Norman are built with a useless strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb. This strip could be turned into a bike lane, putting the sidewalk flush with the curb. The more major of the two streets bounding my property already has bike lanes, so I don't foresee it happening, but I would jump at the chance to sell these strips to the city if they offered. They are a pain to mow, and are narrow enough and so close to the street that I can't really do anything useful with them.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

US 89

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on April 11, 2018, 10:20:07 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on April 11, 2018, 09:51:46 PM
I dunno, I think the extra ten feet or whatever of ROW that bike lanes take up is money well spent. Hoping we get some expansion of the current network here in Norman (the city seems interested in expanding its bike facilities, so it's a good possibility).
That is a lot of ROW taken up. That could be a car lane and instead goes to bike lanes that are almost always empty. If they want to to just slap some paint on each side of a road that doesn't have any lane reduction, then I'll support that. You sure won't see me using them much though.

I have no problem with bike lanes when they’re just an extra few feet of ROW that can be added to the side of the road, especially when it was just going to be a 2-lane road anyway. My problem is when they decide to put in a bike lane but don’t change the initial ROW of what would have been a multi-lane road, since that requires the removal of a car lane and decreases capacity.

Also, I think bicycles should stay off the main arterials as much as possible, and ride on the side streets instead (unless there is no other alternative). When there are bicycles on the major arterials, drivers constantly worry about avoiding the bicyclist, and bicyclists worry about getting hit by a car. Riding on the side streets (and putting in bike lanes on these streets) would create a safer environment overall for both driver and bicyclist.



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