Gilcrease Expressway/W 41st Street intersection in west Tulsa

[bugo]

Why was the Gilcrease Expressway/W 51st Street intersection built the way it was?  The intersection at 51st is going to eventually be a freeway interchange, but there is only one road that runs through there that would make a good ramp, while the curves where the Gilcrease meets 51st are very, very sharp and dangerous.  When the Gilcresase (Future OK 12) is converted to a freeway, the whole intersection will have to be reconfigured except for the entrance ramp from EB 51st to SB/EB Gilcrease.  Why build such a dangerous intersection knowing that they would have to eventually tear the whole thing out and build a completely new setup?  You can tell the direction the eventual freeway will run by following the curvature of the Gilcrease north and south of 51st. 

Here's the map of the area.  In the SE corner of the map is the I-44/OK 66/I-244/Gilcrease interchange.  The Gilcrease is a short freeway stub from I-44/244 to 41st, while it is a sort of a "super 2" from 41st to 51st.  The WB 44-NB Gilcrease ramp is labeled "51st St".  The Gilcrease heading north from the NE corner of the map is the future southbound lanes, and you can tell where the onramp from 41st to the SB Gilcrease will be.  There's even a stub where the onramp will join the SB Gilcrease, and another that will run from the freeway stub to 41st Street.  Can anybody explain the weirdness of this design?  Also, when was the stub freeway built, and what about the "super 2" segment?  Incidentally, there's a bit of button copy in the area.

http://goo.gl/maps/Fif3N

[Scott5114]

Most likely, poor planning. Which is a staple of Oklahoma transportation, of course. This would be a great place to use the build-the-frontage-roads-first approach commonly used in Texas.

That horizontal-span-wire signal at 51st and Gilcrease is inordinately weird for Oklahoma. Only other place I've seen a setup like that is Lawton, which loves doing screwy things with its signals.

[bugo]

I wonder if this stretch of the Gilcrease was built by ODOT or by the city of Tulsa?  Who maintains it now?

[Scott5114]

Can't speak to who built it, but it is not shown on the 2012 Control Section Maps, meaning ODOT does not maintain it. The Control Section Maps show a "P&S" (Projected & Surveyed) control section here instead.

[bugo]

Most likely, poor planning. Which is a staple of Oklahoma transportation, of course. This would be a great place to use the build-the-frontage-roads-first approach commonly used in Texas.

That's sort of what they did for the "extension" of the Gilcrease west of the Tisdale to N 41st W Ave.  It runs along the future southern frontage road.

That horizontal-span-wire signal at 51st and Gilcrease is inordinately weird for Oklahoma. Only other place I've seen a setup like that is Lawton, which loves doing screwy things with its signals.

The temporary signals at 51st and Lewis are like this.  I can't wait until the bridge over Lewis is open so I don't have to go all the way to Harvard to get to I-44 west/north Lewis/Peoria.  There will be a U ramp similar to the ones at Harvard and Yale, except this will be an overpass instead of an underpass.