I have read on here that there was an at-grade railroad crossing on I-44 west of the river up until the '80s. Where was it located? Are there any remnants of it remaining?
The grade crossing was just before I-244 merges and there is no trace left today. It does show up in the 1967 photography on Historicaerials.com.
Quote from: bugo on July 05, 2014, 07:44:30 AM
I have read on here that there was an at-grade railroad crossing on I-44 west of the river up until the '80s. Where was it located? Are there any remnants of it remaining?
If you are westbound, it is the RR overpass west of the 33rd West Ave exit. The reason it was that way was 44 wasn't truly a freeway from the Turner gate to the Southwest Blvd interchange. When the Turner was opened in 1953, that stretch was just an extension of Southwest Blvd (US66). It was a wild mess of at-grade crossovers, truck stops, and motels. Many an accident there from semis trying to get across while traffic whipped by at 70 mph. When 244 was completed in the late 70's, they rebuilt the interchange with 44 and included bridges across the RR (Tulsa-Sapulpa)
I'm baffled at the original design of the then Turner Turnpike/US 66-75 (now I-44/OK 66) split at Sapulpa. There is a bridge carrying EB 44 over WB 66 but at one time it was an at-grade! There must have been many deaths then, especially when seat belts were way off in the future.
Was it signed as I-44 when the at-grade intersections were there? I'm assuming it is because the 1967 aerial photo shows the at-grades and I reckon it was I-44 at that time. Also, when was the Gilcrease Expressway stub built? It has button copy on it (as does WB 44 approaching the 44/244/Gilcrease interchange). I'll get a picture one of these days.
Keep in mind that Oklahoma was still using button copy into the 1990s (the Chickasaw Turnpike was built in 1991 and used button copy), so presence of button copy is not a guarantee that anything is older than 20 years or so.
Quote from: bugo on July 05, 2014, 11:56:47 AM
Was it signed as I-44 when the at-grade intersections were there? I'm assuming it is because the 1967 aerial photo shows the at-grades and I reckon it was I-44 at that time. Also, when was the Gilcrease Expressway stub built? It has button copy on it (as does WB 44 approaching the 44/244/Gilcrease interchange). I'll get a picture one of these days.
There was a 2 way stop at the at-grade crossover where I44 and 66 split. No wrecks there AFAIK, but the remaining at-grade crossovers were a terror.
The rebuild was sometime in the mid-70's
Westbound OK 66 and eastbound I-44 both had to stop?
Quote from: bugo on July 15, 2014, 09:05:05 PM
Westbound OK 66 and eastbound I-44 both had to stop?
Yup. It wasn't a problem for eastbound 44 as you barely had left the tollgate.