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[Baloo Uriza]

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Transportation Commission on Monday approved the route for a toll road to complete the Gilcrease Expressway.

Last month, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority adopted a resolution to further work on the project, which has been on the books for decades. The estimated cost of completing the final leg of the project is $290 million.

The five-mile, four-lane roadway will include an adjacent multiuse trail and feature 22 bridges, the most expensive of which will be two Arkansas River crossings.

The extension from Interstate 44 in west Tulsa north to Edison Street will be a toll road owned and operated by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.

“The department has completed a review of the proposed alignment and believes that this facility will enhance the safety and functionality of the existing transportation system,” the agency said in a press release.

“The addition will assist in alleviating the growing congestion on major urban interstates and highways in the area and is anticipated to subsequently reduce the number and severity of accidents and improve mobility in the region.”

Department of Transportation Executive Director Mike Patterson said opposition to expanding turnpikes is common but that he has not heard any about the Gilcrease Expressway project.

Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Executive Director Tim Gatz said the project will help an area of Tulsa that has been underserved.
Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley called the project “long overdue” and said the goal is to have the project under construction before Gov. Mary Fallin leaves office in less than two years.

Ridley said that when Fallin became governor, she told him she wanted the issue resolved. Fallin took office in January 2011 and will finish her second term in January 2019.

The project involves a funding partnership among the city of Tulsa, Tulsa County, the Indian Nations Council of Governments, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the federal government and a private investor.

Fallin said the project is important for the city of Tulsa in the area of economic development and job creation.

In unrelated action, Fallin issued a proclamation declaring April and May work zone awareness months. She encouraged residents to be attentive and patient on the roadways.

Preliminary statistics show that in 2016, some 17 people were killed and 212 were injured in 181 collisions in Oklahoma work zones, according to the department.

Some 60 Oklahoma Department of Transportation employees have been killed in the line of duty in the agency’s history, according to the department.

“If your hands are on the wheel, then you are responsible for ensuring the safety of everyone around you, including yourself,” Patterson said. “We do our part to set up safe work zones in order to make critically needed repairs, but drivers have to do their part, too.”

I believe this is going to be OK 12 Toll based on OklaDOT section 72-87P, but it appears that the plans have been updated compared to what appears in those control sections.  I would presume there's a finalized plan for it to have been approved, and I'm curious where this plan would be available for inspection.  A GeoTIFF would be perfect, but a vector of some form would be nice.  Bonus if it also has the plans for the lane layout as well.

[Henry]

Well, this is good news!

[Baloo Uriza]

Well, this is good news!

An expensive road to nowhere while mass transit barely serves the west side?  Not really, no.

[Scott5114]

And this is a roads forum.

[Baloo Uriza]

And this is a roads forum.

You can be a roadgeek and enjoy driving and still call out stupid situations when they're stupid.

[The Ghostbuster]

Is the portion from W. Edison St. back over to the existing segment of the Gilcrease Expressway at N. 41st W Ave proposed to be constructed at any point, thus completing the entire length of the long-proposed Gilcrease Expressway?

[Baloo Uriza]

Is the portion from W. Edison St. back over to the existing segment of the Gilcrease Expressway at N. 41st W Ave proposed to be constructed at any point, thus completing the entire length of the long-proposed Gilcrease Expressway?

It's been proposed for a long time, but it's not part of the current project.  That and I think this is part of the Sequoyah Loop Expressway project since it's a state thing and not the city this time.

[compdude787]

I've always found it strange how there's virtually no development just a few miles NW of downtown Tulsa. Are they expecting more development to happen in the near future? If not, then there's little justification to building this road as a full freeway. Right now, perhaps a two-lane road would suffice until the area starts to see some serious development.

[Baloo Uriza]

I've always found it strange how there's virtually no development just a few miles NW of downtown Tulsa. Are they expecting more development to happen in the near future? If not, then there's little justification to building this road as a full freeway. Right now, perhaps a two-lane road would suffice until the area starts to see some serious development.

Tribal politics and terrain are the two biggest factors against that happening, and neither looks like it's going to change anytime soon.  I wouldn't expect the Sequoyah Loop Expressway being completed through the Osage Nation anytime soon.

[compdude787]

I've always found it strange how there's virtually no development just a few miles NW of downtown Tulsa. Are they expecting more development to happen in the near future? If not, then there's little justification to building this road as a full freeway. Right now, perhaps a two-lane road would suffice until the area starts to see some serious development.

Tribal politics and terrain are the two biggest factors against that happening, and neither looks like it's going to change anytime soon.  I wouldn't expect the Sequoyah Loop Expressway being completed through the Osage Nation anytime soon.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. It's not unlike some of the indian reservations in Phoenix where the development stops right next to their boundaries. It's almost as if they function like an urban growth boundary.

[Baloo Uriza]

I've always found it strange how there's virtually no development just a few miles NW of downtown Tulsa. Are they expecting more development to happen in the near future? If not, then there's little justification to building this road as a full freeway. Right now, perhaps a two-lane road would suffice until the area starts to see some serious development.

Tribal politics and terrain are the two biggest factors against that happening, and neither looks like it's going to change anytime soon.  I wouldn't expect the Sequoyah Loop Expressway being completed through the Osage Nation anytime soon.

Ah, I see. That makes sense. It's not unlike some of the indian reservations in Phoenix where the development stops right next to their boundaries. It's almost as if they function like an urban growth boundary.

Also a factor as to why there's such a stark contrast in development when you cross Admiral Place, which is the border of the Creek and Cherokee Nations.  That border meets the Osage Nation at the Osage County line.

[kphoger]

It's almost as if they function like an urban growth boundary.

Well, that's sort of what they were created for, isn't it?  Land carved out of the nation, set aside for agrarian peoples to continue their traditional way of life without being encroached upon by the expansion of the nation at large.

[Baloo Uriza]

It's almost as if they function like an urban growth boundary.

Well, that's sort of what they were created for, isn't it?  Land carved out of the nation, set aside for agrarian peoples to continue their traditional way of life without being encroached upon by the expansion of the nation at large.

Well, sure, if you actively ignore the whole genocide-by-paperwork factor at the root of Americanization and the Removal.  Hitler looked up to Andrew Jackson for that.

[kphoger]

I did actively ignore that, I know.  But what I mean is that they were designed to keep the rest of us from encroaching.

[Baloo Uriza]

I did actively ignore that, I know.  But what I mean is that they were designed to keep the rest of us from encroaching.

In this case, I don't really think it's so much that as the Osage Nation's population (tribal citizen and otherwise) are, for the most part, much more distributed towards Pawhuska, Bigheart/Barnsdall, and Bartlesville.  US 60 between Bartlesville and Pawhuska is, unquestionably, the busiest highway in their borders if you exclude the two Tulsa County highways that swing in (LL doesn't really count given that the Apache interchange is practically a surveyor's error on the Osage side; G doesn't really count given that the Mingo Cycleway probably gets a higher traffic count than G does west of LL).

[bugo]

Despite what Baloo says, this road is going to be extremely useful for me. I will be able to go to Sand Springs and points west without having to go through the mess that is downtown Tulsa and the IDL. It will make trips much safer and far less stressful.

[bugo]

It's not going to be called "Sequoyah Loop". It's going to be called the "Gilcrease Expressway". That is an ancient name on old maps and is no longer in use. What's next, calling the LL the "Osage Expressway"?

[US71]

Despite what Baboon says, this road is going to be extremely useful for me. I will be able to go to Sand Springs and points west without having to go through the mess that is downtown Tulsa and the IDL. It will make trips much safer and far less stressful.

Easy on the name calling.

[J N Winkler]

Tulsa is a strange city in a number of ways--for starters, it has an unusually large number of skyscrapers in the Gothic Revival style as a result of the timing of the Oklahoma oil boom in the early twentieth century, and its urban development has been influenced by its being Osage/Creek/Cherokee contact territory.

I see this project largely as a continuation of the "city" segment of I-44 past its TOTSO a few miles north of the Creek Turnpike interchange.  It will be a nice bypass of the IDL and the hairier segments of the Sand Springs Expressway.  I don't expect that it will be continued to the present four-way stop at the north end of the Tisdale Expressway, however.  The fact that the area such a continuation would run through is enclosed by a Tulsa strip annexation argues for its eventual completion.  However, besides Osage tribal issues, I would expect any impact on the viewsheds of the Gilcrease Museum to be quite controversial.  This is attractive country with rolling hills, so I smell serious money, the kind that can spend on hobby farms for horses.

[Baloo Uriza]

Tulsa is a strange city in a number of ways--for starters, it has an unusually large number of skyscrapers in the Gothic Revival style as a result of the timing of the Oklahoma oil boom in the early twentieth century, and its urban development has been influenced by its being Osage/Creek/Cherokee contact territory.

I see this project largely as a continuation of the "city" segment of I-44 past its TOTSO a few miles north of the Creek Turnpike interchange.  It will be a nice bypass of the IDL and the hairier segments of the Sand Springs Expressway. 

There's a hairy spot?  It's remarkably straightforward compared to the BA Expressway or the MLK Expressway.  It rarely comes up on the traffic reports except when it's wet...you'd think a road that's the high point of the area would drain better.

I don't expect that it will be continued to the present four-way stop at the north end of the Tisdale Expressway, however. 

Minor point... there are no stop signs on Tisdale Parkway.  There's the interchange with the MLK Expressway and the Sand Springs expressway, a half-diamond at Fairview Street, a diamond at Pine, a diamond at Apache, traffic lights at Gilcrease, and traffic lights at it's terminus with 36th Street.

Wouldn't mind seeing the current plan for the Gilcrease Expansion.  I can't find anything more recent than the last time this came up years ago.  Not that it matters much what with the whole thing likely to be put off indefinitely or cancelled given the current fiscal situation and many far more urgent needs in the region.

[bugo]

I have PDF files of the Tisdale/Gilcrease interchange somewhere.

[J N Winkler]

There's a hairy spot?  It's remarkably straightforward compared to the BA Expressway or the MLK Expressway.  It rarely comes up on the traffic reports except when it's wet...you'd think a road that's the high point of the area would drain better.

Yup, there is.  The part of the Sand Springs Expressway that would be bypassed by this new construction has sharp curves, a 55 limit, and incorrect signing of the Gilcrease Museum Road exit as a lane drop.  I freely concede that the Broken Arrow and MLK are worse.

Minor point... there are no stop signs on Tisdale Parkway.  There's the interchange with the MLK Expressway and the Sand Springs expressway, a half-diamond at Fairview Street, a diamond at Pine, a diamond at Apache, traffic lights at Gilcrease, and traffic lights at its terminus with 36th Street.

So there is--I think I last drove Tisdale that far north in 2013 or early 2015 and simply didn't remember the Gilcrease and 36th Street intersections correctly as signal installations, since StreetView suggests that is what they have had from the start.

[Baloo Uriza]

There's a hairy spot?  It's remarkably straightforward compared to the BA Expressway or the MLK Expressway.  It rarely comes up on the traffic reports except when it's wet...you'd think a road that's the high point of the area would drain better.

Yup, there is.  The part of the Sand Springs Expressway that would be bypassed by this new construction has sharp curves, a 55 limit, and incorrect signing of the Gilcrease Museum Road exit as a lane drop.  I freely concede that the Broken Arrow and MLK are worse.

Gilcrease Expressway wouldn't even go in the same direction, though.  It's perpendicular.  So it wouldn't be bypassed.  And really, 55 for an urban freeway's doing pretty good.  That said, I really wish OklaDOT would figure it the fuck out on signage in general.  Good news is, at least on the Tulsa expressways, if you point it out to them that there's a problem and can find it in the MUTCD, they do fix it (which is why LL Tisdale is no longer signed incorrectly as a lane drop on eastbound MLK).

Minor point... there are no stop signs on Tisdale Parkway.  There's the interchange with the MLK Expressway and the Sand Springs expressway, a half-diamond at Fairview Street, a diamond at Pine, a diamond at Apache, traffic lights at Gilcrease, and traffic lights at its terminus with 36th Street.

So there is--I think I last drove Tisdale that far north in 2013 or early 2015 and simply didn't remember the Gilcrease and 36th Street intersections correctly as signal installations, since StreetView suggests that is what they have had from the start.
[/quote]

It is a low traffic intersection, but I think the only reason it's not a stop sign is mostly for visibility since it goes from being an expressway to being a parkway in about a kilometer.  Stupid people might not have followed the speed limit drop, and the signal helps highlight that they're heading towards the losing end of a T intersection.  Which is also probably why that light is a demand light defaulting to a green for 36th Street.

[rte66man]

Exhuming the thread.......

https://www.pikepass.com/engineering/PublicNotices.aspx

Note the Combined Map.  PDF of the Extension with the "conceptual" north extension from US412 to the Tisdale.

[Plutonic Panda]

Ground was broken on this project a couple days ago. Work should be complete in a couple years.

After more than 50 years of maybes, somedays and possibilities, the west leg of the Gilcrease Expressway took a giant step toward reality at a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday morning.

At the corner of 56th West Avenue and 21st Street, Gov. Kevin Stitt, Mayor G.T. Bynum and County Commissioner Karen Keith gathered with other local and state officials to commemorate the final leg of the expressway first envisioned in 1961.

- https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/officials-break-ground-on-west-leg-of-gilcrease-expressway/article_258e6f99-4b3a-575a-8d2b-ccb569c968b5.html