ACCESS Oklahoma

[Scott5114]

The way the map looks on the ACCESS Oklahoma web site the East-West Connector Turnpike main lanes would be built North of Indian Hills Road from the Canadian River to I-35. Indian Hills Road would be turned into a South side frontage road. Just East of I-35, past 24th Ave NW, the main lanes shift Southward to where Indian Hills Road would be the North side frontage road.

Since Indian Hills Road is the boundary between Norman and Moore, it's entirely possible Norman's choosing to not get involved in this plan may have simply been that they didn't feel they had enough of a stake in it to stick their neck out—it would be a high risk, low reward scenario for the city council.

Norman is a college town. Besides, Oklahoma does have a decent number of "progressive" residents. Maybe not enough to make differences in big elections. But they do end up in positions like urban planning.

I remember; I lived in Norman for 15 years. The desert hasn't cooked my brain that badly yet.

In my estimation, turnpike opposition in Norman tends to fall into three main baskets: NIMBYs directly affected by the project; Republican/libertarian BANANAs that don't want the government to spend a dime on anything, ever, anywhere, for any reason; and environmentalists. (When we lived in Norman, my wife opposed the turnpikes because she felt they would negatively impact the environment around Lake Thunderbird. We agreed to disagree on the topic.)

[Bobby5280]

I think the only people with legit complaints about turnpike proposals such as this one are the property owners who would be directly affected. My sympathy really goes out to any individual home owners whose personal residence would be impacted. Right now would be an extremely shitty time to get paid "fair market value" for your house and be forced to find some place else to live. Home prices are currently batshit insane.

The Libertarian types who want no money spent on anything are hypocrites. They'll bitch just as much as anyone when roads are going bad, if crime rates increase in their town, etc. Infrastructure costs money. Everything from police departments to garbage removal costs money. I guess they believe anyone working a government-related job should do that work for free.

I've seen plenty of environmentalists protest super highway projects. But ordinary surface streets do just as much, if not even more, to contribute to motor vehicle pollution levels. If you're making most of your road trip on a turnpike you're getting from point a to point b faster. The vehicle gets better gas mileage on the highway. It isn't spending as much time idling at traffic signals. The vehicle isn't cycling through its low gears as often.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Next 2 projects to be awarded on the ACCESS Oklahoma program...

1. September 2024 (September 10th): T-MC-128B (Turner Turnpike - Lincoln County) Pavement Widening & Stroud Service Plaza Modernization

Estimated construction cost: $33,306,698
Lowest Bidder: Becco Contractors, Inc. at $38,497,000.00

2. November 2024 (November 7th): JKT-30005 & JKT-30705 (John Kilpatrick Turnpike - Oklahoma County) Grade, Drain, and Surface (MP 132-135) between Eastern Avenue and I-35/I-44 interchange

Estimated construction cost: $16 million

[Plutonic Panda]

I wish They would remove those left ramps in and out of the plaza so you enter it from the right side of the road. I wonder what their plans for this modernization is. Just simply rebuilding the existing facilities?

[Great Lakes Roads]

I wish They would remove those left ramps in and out of the plaza so you enter it from the right side of the road. I wonder what their plans for this modernization is. Just simply rebuilding the existing facilities?

OTA's plan is to move the ramps to/from the WB service plaza from the left side to the right side while also moving and straightening the WB lanes to parallel the EB lanes with space for an ultimate six-lane facility.

[Great Lakes Roads]

An update on the ACCESS Oklahoma program as of September 2024.

[Bobby5280]

The design update to the East-West Connector Turnpike is live at the ACCESS Oklahoma web site.

The turnpike definitely has a much slimmer looking design. I just hope they acquire enough ROW to have at least some room for adding lanes in the future. I don't know if this turnpike will be initially built as a 2x2 lanes facility or 3x3. But they better reserve enough room for at least a 3x3 foot print, if not 4x4.

I'm glad to see the directional stack interchange at I-35 survived this design revision stage. I don't remember how many exits to surface streets the East-West Connector had in its previous design. This current version shows only two exits. There's one exit between I-44 and I-35: at Western Ave/60th Ave NW. The only surface street exit East of I-35 is at S Sooner Road/12 Ave NE. That should be convenient for Belmar Golf Club members.

With only 5 interchanges along its length the East-West Connector Turnpike could end up with speed limits higher than I expect. I'd figure an urban turnpike would be signed at maybe 65mph. This one could have 70mph or 75mph speed limits. But I do worry this road will be built in 2x2 lanes configuration within a minimal size footprint.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://www.kjrh.com/news/local-news/whats-driving-up-the-cost-of-driving-on-oklahoma-toll-roads#google_vignette

OTA to increase tolls on the turnpikes starting on January 1.

[Bobby5280]

I thought they were selling bonds to cover a bunch of the ACCESS Oklahoma costs. Maybe not enough people are keen on buying turnpike bonds at the prices and interest OTA is asking. In addition to this 15% average bump in toll rates, OTA plans additional 6% hikes every two years.

The PikePass rates on Oklahoma turnpikes have been a relative bargain compared to toll road rates in other states. Frequent price hikes at significant percentages may change that.

[Plutonic Panda]

It looks like the Cleveland County commissioners approved the frontage roads so the frontage roads will in fact be constructed.

[Plutonic Panda]

East-West connector freeway begins construction this coming spring

https://kfor.com/news/local/ota-construction-on-east-west-connector-turnpike-to-start-in-spring/

[Stephane Dumas]

I won't be surprised if the East-West connector freeway might be named Indian Hills Turnpike since most of Indian Hill Road will be converted into a service road/frontage road of the East-West connector freeway.

[The Ghostbuster]

I think the future toll road should be named after another Native American tribe. Maybe it could be named the Choctaw Turnpike.

[SoonerCowboy]

I think the future toll road should be named after another Native American tribe. Maybe it could be named the Choctaw Turnpike.

It won't be named the Choctaw since it is not within the Choctaw Nation. They could make a case for the Indian Nation Turnpike since 3/4 of it is in the Choctaw Nation.

[Scott5114]

I won't be surprised if the East-West connector freeway might be named Indian Hills Turnpike since most of Indian Hill Road will be converted into a service road/frontage road of the East-West connector freeway.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who can never remember whether there is one Indian Hill or several Indian Hills. (The plural is correct.)

I think the future toll road should be named after another Native American tribe. Maybe it could be named the Choctaw Turnpike.

The problem with naming it after the Choctaw is that Choctaw is also the name of a nearby town and the turnpike doesn't go there. So that would be somewhat confusing. (Same is true of Seminole, the other one of the big 5 tribes to not have a turnpike named after it.)

I imagine, with the new trend of assigning numbers to turnpikes, there's a chance it will just get a number and not a name.

[Plutonic Panda]

New alignment announced for the south Kickapoo extension:

https://www.accessoklahoma.com/

[Great Lakes Roads]

New alignment announced for the south Kickapoo extension:

https://www.accessoklahoma.com/

Press conference on the said alignment.

[Bobby5280]

The adjusted alignment really doesn't look bad at all. From the interchange with the East-West Connector Turnpike and going South the path looks even more straight North-South than before. And then the path from the East-West Connector on Eastward to I-40 looks pretty good as well.

[rte66man]

The adjusted alignment really doesn't look bad at all. From the interchange with the East-West Connector Turnpike and going South the path looks even more straight North-South than before. And then the path from the East-West Connector on Eastward to I-40 looks pretty good as well.

The part from the E-W connector to I-40 didn't change. The South Connector new route is almost one mile west of the previous alignment. This takes them out of the Corps of Engineers Thunderbird Lake concerns. Now let the PikeOff games begin.

[Scott5114]

Oh damn, that would have been really close to my house (which was off of Alameda and 24th E.) This would have been super convenient for accessing eastern Oklahoma, especially if they build an interchange at Alameda.

The east-west connector ending in a DDI at I-44 is pretty gutsy. Doing it right by the casino is especially gutsy. I don't think ODOT/OTA realize how much people tend to drink at casinos, considering how many DDIs they seem to want to put by them.

The fact that the east-west connector ties directly into OK-37 means I'm going all in on it being an OK-37 extension. (It even starts with 3!)

[ElishaGOtis]

New alignment announced for the south Kickapoo extension:

https://www.accessoklahoma.com/

Press conference on the said alignment.

It's probably on the documents somewhere, but is this planned to have an ultra-high speed design as well, similar to the existing 80-85mph designed section?

[SoonerCowboy]

Oh damn, that would have been really close to my house (which was off of Alameda and 24th E.) This would have been super convenient for accessing eastern Oklahoma, especially if they build an interchange at Alameda.

The east-west connector ending in a DDI at I-44 is pretty gutsy. Doing it right by the casino is especially gutsy. I don't think ODOT/OTA realize how much people tend to drink at casinos, considering how many DDIs they seem to want to put by them.

The fact that the east-west connector ties directly into OK-37 means I'm going all in on it being an OK-37 extension. (It even starts with 3!)

Exactly!!! I had previously mentioned extending OK-37 along the east-west connector instead of 134th/4th Street to I-335. I bet they would make it an interstate route though.

[I-55]

The east-west connector ending in a DDI at I-44 is pretty gutsy. Doing it right by the casino is especially gutsy. I don't think ODOT/OTA realize how much people tend to drink at casinos, considering how many DDIs they seem to want to put by them.

This looks very similar to I-39/90 and I-43 in Beloit, WI except that the tie-in to I-43 was at a separate interchange further east. I have a feeling WB traffic entering the DDI will be traveling entirely too fast.

It's probably on the documents somewhere, but is this planned to have an ultra-high speed design as well, similar to the existing 80-85mph designed section?

I could see it going either way. The Gilcrease Tpk was built with a 70 mph limit, but this seems like it'll be more like the Kickapoo in terms of geometry, interchanges, and surrounding environment.

[Bobby5280]

The east-west connector ending in a DDI at I-44 is pretty gutsy. Doing it right by the casino is especially gutsy. I don't think ODOT/OTA realize how much people tend to drink at casinos, considering how many DDIs they seem to want to put by them.

The West end of the East-West Connector Turnpike does have a surface street DDI to connect with NW 32nd Street/OK-37 going into Newcastle. However, the East-West Connector turnpike is still planned to connect to I-44 via a directional Y interchange. People coming up via I-44 won't have to go thru the surface DDI to get on the East-West Connector Turnpike. Those Y interchange ramps will fly over the East edge of the DDI. It also looks like another ramp coming from the access road behind Newcastle Casino will also bridge over the East side of that DDI.

The two interchanges at the North End of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike look like they're going to be quite the collection of braided ramps and all sorts of other stuff. I'd like to see a schematic of the plans once they have some ready.