ACCESS Oklahoma

[bugo]

The article states the turnpike bridges over I-35 would be named after Toby Keith or possibly the interchange. I don't think that makes much sense. Superhighway system interchanges can get nicknames, such as the "High Five" in Dallas (I-635/US-75). Interchanges generally don't get named after people (or anything else really). The suggestion of naming the pair of bridges over the Canadian River the "Should've Been a Cowboy" bridges sounds a bit goofy.

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of. They even name interchanges which are nothing more than 3 slip ramps to frontage roads. They also name plain concrete rural bridges after unknowns. It's pointless. As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

[Rothman]

The article states the turnpike bridges over I-35 would be named after Toby Keith or possibly the interchange. I don't think that makes much sense. Superhighway system interchanges can get nicknames, such as the "High Five" in Dallas (I-635/US-75). Interchanges generally don't get named after people (or anything else really). The suggestion of naming the pair of bridges over the Canadian River the "Should've Been a Cowboy" bridges sounds a bit goofy.

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of. They even name interchanges which are nothing more than 3 slip ramps to frontage roads. They also name plain concrete rural bridges after unknowns. It's pointless. As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

Heh.  I love the fact that the Internet doesn't know who Ronald Glenn is and the legislation doesn't mention it, either (other than "honored citizen").

Reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean: "But you have heard of me."  No...not really.

[Plutonic Panda]

The article states the turnpike bridges over I-35 would be named after Toby Keith or possibly the interchange. I don't think that makes much sense. Superhighway system interchanges can get nicknames, such as the "High Five" in Dallas (I-635/US-75). Interchanges generally don't get named after people (or anything else really). The suggestion of naming the pair of bridges over the Canadian River the "Should've Been a Cowboy" bridges sounds a bit goofy.

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of. They even name interchanges which are nothing more than 3 slip ramps to frontage roads. They also name plain concrete rural bridges after unknowns. It's pointless. As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

Are there even any Trump highway signs yet?

[Scott5114]

The article states the turnpike bridges over I-35 would be named after Toby Keith or possibly the interchange. I don't think that makes much sense. Superhighway system interchanges can get nicknames, such as the "High Five" in Dallas (I-635/US-75). Interchanges generally don't get named after people (or anything else really). The suggestion of naming the pair of bridges over the Canadian River the "Should've Been a Cowboy" bridges sounds a bit goofy.

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of. They even name interchanges which are nothing more than 3 slip ramps to frontage roads. They also name plain concrete rural bridges after unknowns. It's pointless. As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

Are there even any Trump highway signs yet?

Yeah. The Street View in that area is wonky, but if you scroll back toward Texas it looks like they've already replaced the sign once (the newer one is brown).

[Bobby5280]

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of.

In many cases the signs refer to someone who is/was well-known to a local area. Part of I-44 in Lawton is named after Bill Burgess. Not many people outside of Lawton would know who that is. Burgess was a local businessman, a regent at OU and pretty involved with the state government.

As for wasting money, these dedication signs are usually modest-sized, ground-mounted signs. The cost of those things is pretty piddly -not much more than a reassurance marker. The time/labor to install one is barely any different. The name dedication signs are not installed all over the place either. Usually there is no more than a pair of signs installed at either end of the segment of highway.

ODOT occasionally changes who the highway is named after. IIRC, the stretch of I-44 currently named after Bill Burgess was previously named after Lauren Nelson, a Lawton native who won the Miss America pageant in 2007. I think the highway was named after a military veteran before that.

The green sign panels have a limited life span. The green high intensity reflective vinyl can last about 10 years. The white "engineer's grade" reflective vinyl lettering applied to the green background lasts only 5-7 years at best before it starts cracking and flaking. Some agencies will digitally print the entire sign panel onto white type III reflective vinyl. Again, even with a good UV laminate you're not going to get more than 10 years of life out of the sign before it starts fading badly and the reflective properties get blunted.

These highway name dedication signs are often programmed into larger sign maintenance projects where multiple sign structures are serviced at the same time.

As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

I think the issue is going to be decided more by people who live in Oklahoma. I certainly didn't agree with all of Toby Keith's politics, but I think he was an overall positive figure in Oklahoma history and culture.

Are there even any Trump highway signs yet?

There will probably be dozens of highways, bridges, airports and other stuff named after Trump -by Trump's own orders- before his current term is finished.

[jb_va23]

The article states the turnpike bridges over I-35 would be named after Toby Keith or possibly the interchange. I don't think that makes much sense. Superhighway system interchanges can get nicknames, such as the "High Five" in Dallas (I-635/US-75). Interchanges generally don't get named after people (or anything else really). The suggestion of naming the pair of bridges over the Canadian River the "Should've Been a Cowboy" bridges sounds a bit goofy.

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of. They even name interchanges which are nothing more than 3 slip ramps to frontage roads. They also name plain concrete rural bridges after unknowns. It's pointless. As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

Agreed... there is no reason for it. I would rather the turnpike be named after a Native American tribe or something since the turnpikes are typically named. Seminole Turnpike is available. I grew up in OK and people know the turnpikes by their names, so at least pick a simple and memorable one.

[Plutonic Panda]

The article states the turnpike bridges over I-35 would be named after Toby Keith or possibly the interchange. I don't think that makes much sense. Superhighway system interchanges can get nicknames, such as the "High Five" in Dallas (I-635/US-75). Interchanges generally don't get named after people (or anything else really). The suggestion of naming the pair of bridges over the Canadian River the "Should've Been a Cowboy" bridges sounds a bit goofy.

Oklahoma's obsession with naming infrastructure after government employees is tiring and annoying and hopefully will fade away. They waste money on signs with somebody's name that nobody has ever heard of. They even name interchanges which are nothing more than 3 slip ramps to frontage roads. They also name plain concrete rural bridges after unknowns. It's pointless. As far as naming a highway after Toby Keith, I'm against it, mostly because I don't like his music and he had some controversial viewpoints and wasn't universally loved.

Agreed... there is no reason for it. I would rather the turnpike be named after a Native American tribe or something since the turnpikes are typically named. Seminole Turnpike is available. I grew up in OK and people know the turnpikes by their names, so at least pick a simple and memorable one.

There are tons of turnpikes named after Native Americans.

[Bobby5280]

Yeah, I think native tribes are already pretty well represented in the naming of Oklahoma turnpikes.

We have the Muskogee Turnpike -which derives its name from the Muscogee Creek tribe. The Creek Turnpike around the South & East side of Tulsa is also related to the Muscogee tribe. There's the Cherokee Turnpike just East of Tulsa. Ada has its 2-lane Chickasaw Turnpike. The Indian Nation Turnpike seems dedicated to all native tribes.

Another problem with calling the East-West Connector Turnpike the "Seminole Turnpike": it's likely to confuse motorists who might think the turnpike goes to Seminole, OK -which is about 50 miles East of Norman. Lots of towns in Oklahoma are named after tribes. The Muskogee Turnpike goes through Muskogee, so that makes sense.

A lot of people in Moore and Norman still have a lot of heartburn about this turnpike project. I think if the turnpike was named after a hometown celebrity like Toby Keith it might do just a little bit to calm down some of the anger and even spark a bit of community pride.

[bugo]

The Street View in that area is wonky, but if you scroll back toward Texas it looks like they've already replaced the sign once (the newer one is brown).

The imagery for March, 2022 has this sign and the area around it blurred out, but the August 2022 and August 2024 imagery lack the blurring.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://accesspubinv.transportationplanroom.com/i-35interchange

I-35 interchange for the East-West Connector.

[Bobby5280]

That presentation confirms my suspicion the interchange project will be built in a number of phases, likely spread over a number of years. Hopefully it won't take a over a freaking decade to build like the I-44/I-235/Broadway Extension interchange in OKC. But I am concerned the interchange will be initially fleshed out in volleyball style (with all the traffic movements between I-35 and the East-West Connector using frontage roads and traffic signals) and that the volleyball configuration could stay put for several years.

[Plutonic Panda]

So I'm trying to understand this it looks like there's red and purple and red represents the main lines of I 35. If I'm reading that schematic right, it shows that there will still be a left-hand exit at flood Avenue. If that's the case that sucks.

But it's weird, because ODOT completed a study on I 35 in the southern Metropolitan area and they noted that one of the things a lot of people had mentioned was getting rid of the left exit.

Hopefully, we get a more detailed schematic, and it shows some sort of C/D road configuration with the main lines of I-35 not being split up in this case, basically assuring that there will not be any left exits.

Why go through all this money to build this massive stack interchange and still have a left-hand exit right near it.

[Plutonic Panda]

That presentation confirms my suspicion the interchange project will be built in a number of phases, likely spread over a number of years. Hopefully it won't take a over a freaking decade to build like the I-44/I-235/Broadway Extension interchange in OKC. But I am concerned the interchange will be initially fleshed out in volleyball style (with all the traffic movements between I-35 and the East-West Connector using frontage roads and traffic signals) and that the volleyball configuration could stay put for several years.

I'm not so sure, though they definitely did indicate they are building the I-44 interchange in phases. But that could be a different scenario because the first portion of this is going to be the bridges over the Canadian river, which are currently under construction.

Then the 44 interchange will need to be completely reconfigured and there won't be any reason to add direct connector ramps over the newly added DDI until they connect the new toll road to I-35.

Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but I suspect they'll just build that entire interchange as one phase of the project.

I'd say worst case scenario we get a volleyball interchange until they connected to the new southern extension of the Kickapoo Turnpike which in that case very well could be a decade away.

[Bobby5280]

So I'm trying to understand this it looks like there's red and purple and red represents the main lines of I 35. If I'm reading that schematic right, it shows that there will still be a left-hand exit at flood Avenue. If that's the case that sucks.

Due to how small the ramp detail is in the image it's too difficult to tell if the left exit from SB I-35 to Flood Ave will still exist. If they're going to re-build the I-35/Flood Ave split and add more braided ramps it would be far better if the SB I-35 exit to Flood Ave is to the right. The existing left exit stinks. It's not as bad as some other left exits in Oklahoma. I'm so glad ODOT finally got rid of the left exit on I-44 to OK-66 on the SW side of Tulsa.

I'm not so sure, though they definitely did indicate they are building the I-44 interchange in phases. But that could be a different scenario because the first portion of this is going to be the bridges over the Canadian river, which are currently under construction.

I guess it all depends on how their funding gets doled out on these work packages. I think it would be far better from a cost standpoint to get things built sooner than later. Construction price inflation seems to only be accelerating. The way they've piece-mealed other interchange projects over years and years doesn't give me much hope.

And, yeah, I think the interchange of the East-West Connector with I-44 (and OK-37) will initially be stuck as a DDI for some time. It's a complicated interchange since it also involves re-building the adjacent interchange with US-62 just to the immediate South. I imagine all that work will be done in a series of phases, just like the stack interchange at I-35.

[kphoger]

Due to how small the ramp detail is in the image it's too difficult to tell if the left exit from SB I-35 to Flood Ave will still exist.

It says that the ramp will be "reconfigured to accommodate" the EWC interchange.  To me, that sounds like a more minor change than totally switching to right-hand exit.

The connections to and from I-35 and US-77/Flood Avenue will be reconfigured to accommodate the new flyover ramps which will be built higher than I-35 and the EWC.

Eventually, all of the EWC and I-35 movements will be served by direct connect ramps.  These will be built on multiple levels:

• Northbound I-35 to Eastbound EWC
• Southbound I-35 to Westbound EWC
• Eastbound EWC to Northbound I-35
• Eastbound EWC to Southbound I-35
• Westbound EWC to Northbound I-35
• Westbound EWC to Southbound I-35

Upper level:

• Northbound I-35 to Westbound EWC
• Southbound I-35 to Eastbound EWC

[stevashe]

Due to how small the ramp detail is in the image it's too difficult to tell if the left exit from SB I-35 to Flood Ave will still exist.

It says that the ramp will be "reconfigured to accommodate" the EWC interchange.  To me, that sounds like a more minor change than totally switching to right-hand exit.

It looks like the schematic posted above is showing the bridges in white. If that's the case, the exit to Flood Ave is definitely still on the left since there is no bridge shown where the ramp would need to cross over/under I-35 of the exit were on the right.

[Bobby5280]

After downloading the schematic image and zooming into, I can see that it looks like the SB I-35 exit ramp to Flood Avenue will indeed still be a left exit. Oh well, you gotta take the bad with the good (the good being a five level directional stack nearby).

[Great Lakes Roads]

From the February 3, 2026 OTA meeting:

1. T-26501B - Bridge & Approaches Over the Deep Fork/Arcadia Lake (1.09 miles east of the I 35 Interchange)
Allen Contracting, Inc./Shell Const. Co., Inc. (JV)
$21,647,634.39
CONST
Turner Turnpike
ACCESS Bond Program

2. JKT-30603B - Interchange, Frontage Rd. Widening, Bridges, & Ramp
JKT (I-344) at Council Rd. Interchange Extend East in OKC
Allen Contracting, Inc./Shell Const. Co., Inc. (JV)
$9,182,678.72
CONST

AND

JKT-30703A - Widening – Frontage, Rd. Including Grade, Drain, Bridge, &, Surface
Allen Contracting, Inc./Shell Const. Co, Inc. (JV)
$2,969,879.19
GEN
John Kilpatrick Turnpike
ACCESS Bond Program

[Plutonic Panda]

So glad to see these projects coming to fruition!

[Plutonic Panda]

Here's a rendering of the Texas size stack interchange planned, which will be the first of its kind in Oklahoma and hopefully many more to be built:

It starts at 38 minutes into the video skip to see the visual fly through.

[Plutonic Panda]

Here is a still from the video:

[bugo]

There are several cloverleafs in the Tulsa region that should be replaced by stacks. The I-44/US 75 interchange is being upgraded, and it was one of the worst interchanges in town, but the OK 51/US 169 cloverleaf is the worst. Neither road has C/D lanes, and the loop ramps dump you on the freeway mainline, with a short distance to merge left while watching out for weaving cars exiting from the freeway. It's terrible. The other cloverleafs like at I-44/BA and I-44/US 169 at least have C/D lanes for I-44, so it doesn't dump you onto the freeway when getting onto I-44, but it does on the state and US highways. The Creek Turnpike/Muskogee Turnpike cloverleaf isn't that bad. It is larger in size than the others, and the loops aren't as tight. It has full C/D lanes in every direction. It's still a cloverleaf and it still sucks, but it isn't scary like the US 169/BA interchange.

[Bobby5280]

Regarding the five-level directional stack at I-35 and the EWC, comments made in the video, particularly the term "ultimate configuration," has me more and more convinced the interchange will indeed be a volleyball for a considerable amount of time and the directional flyover ramps will be added later. Maybe many years later.

[Plutonic Panda]

Hopefully, this is the start of converting most of the cloverleaf interchanges to stack interchanges. Once they finish it whatever the hell kind of interchange you would call the SH-74/I-344 interchange not just Oklahoma City, but the entire state will only have two full directional stack interchanges. Unless you want to count I-44/I-40 but those have left exits and I don't like counting those.

[swake]

Tulsa's OK-51/US-169 interchange is scary as hell. Traffic on OK-51 (The Broken Arrow Exp) is heavy but contained in the 8-10 lanes in area, but US-169's six lanes are completely overwhelmed. Merging from the Broken Arrow to US-169 going south is taking your life in your own hands.

The merging lane is non existent and the outer lane you merge into is often backed up to being stopped with heavy traffic in the inner two lanes five feet away all going 70mph+. Merging to get up to speed here is not for meek. Over 200,000 cars travel through this interchange every day for a cloverleaf with no merging lanes to speak of. All the while ODOT makes sure every one stop light town with 3,500 people in far flung western Oklahoma has access to a four lane high carrying its 3,000 cars a day. Oklahoma Idiocy.