Skydance Bridge

[Johnb911]

There is a plan (though I don't know if it's approved or funded) to turn those abandoned rail tracks into a pedestrian bridge in between Western and Exchange. But yes, more of those would be great.

[shawnw]

Pretty sure that plan is approved, but not sure if funded (but thought it was)

[shawnw]

From Pete's post over in the Better Streets Thread:

Projects Planned

Trails: Trail from Agnew across the Oklahoma River on abandoned rail

[BDP]

Very cool. I'll tell everyone it was my idea.

[YeahIKnow]

Did I miss a post saying the city was closing the pedestrian bridge? We were down at ScissorTail Park Saturday late afternoon, and wanted to take the kids on a walk over the highway, but the entrances on both sides were gated off.

Also, standing at the top of the hill at the entrance of the pedestrian bridge looking north towards the Convention Center, the Omni hotel, Chesapeake Arena and the rest of downtown, looks so great. I can't wait to see more infill and density around this area.

[Pete]

^

They had set money aside to replace the bridge deck that is badly warped, so the closing may be about that.

And if so, why they couldn't do this when the bridge was effectively closed for 2 years for park construction is hard to understand.

[TheTravellers]

^

...
And if so, why they couldn't do this when the bridge was effectively closed for 2 years for park construction is hard to understand.

Pete, you've lived here longer than a few months, surely you understand...

[shawnw]

agreed, poor project management

[SEMIweather]

Damn, are the entrances legit gated off now? They had the south end fenced off a couple weeks ago but it was fairly easy to step around. Disappointing. Much more enjoyable to take this bridge than the Robinson overpass when crossing I-40 to get between the park and the river trails, IMO.

[PaddyShack]

Are they doing a full replace with different materials? Or just replacing the old wood with new wood? Also, the benches on the bridge were in need of repair. I would like to see a better material installed.

[Pete]

I believe the plan was to use synthetic decking rather than natural wood.

[SEMIweather]

I believe the plan was to use synthetic decking rather than natural wood.

That would be an improvement, IMO. Also, I would again like to suggest that with this bridge getting more foot traffic (especially once the south end of the park opens in a couple of years), they should really think about raising the barriers a bit more, as I feel they are fairly low for a bridge that is crossing a 12-lane highway. But I'm sure that's much more complicated than the work they're currently doing.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

This bridge is still closed. City of OKC Twitter feed says it will remain closed until summer at earliest.
West River Trail also closed for foreseeable future.
Infrastructure maintenance is a real challenge for OKC.

[SEMIweather]

Really can't believe they had years and years to do these bridge repairs while the park was being built and decided instead to close it for over half a year less than two months after the first part of the park opened.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

It also doesn't make me feel like the new pedestrian bridge on NW Expressway will get much maintenance love, once built.
I hope I am wrong.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

Duplicates

[SEMIweather]

If nothing else, at least the city is maintaining that stretch of Expressway now so ODOT can't mess with the design of that bridge like they did with Skydance.

[zefferoni]

I noticed a lot of people (looked like park-goers, not workers) were walking around on the bridge yesterday afternoon. Either the bridge is open or they bypassed barriers.

[Edmond Hausfrau]

I noticed a lot of people (looked like park-goers, not workers) were walking around on the bridge yesterday afternoon. Either the bridge is open or they bypassed barriers.

Skydance bridge still has fencing up as of this evening. Maybe you are thinking of the bridge in Scissortail Park?

[zefferoni]

Skydance bridge still has fencing up as of this evening. Maybe you are thinking of the bridge in Scissortail Park?

Nope, it was Skydance. There were several families hanging out/walking around as I drove under it on I-40. They must have bypassed the barriers.

[Pete]

Took this yesterday; looks like it is fully open:

[Pete]

From Facebook:

[Mott]

From Facebook:

Well that says a lot about OKC’s upkeep ability.

[catch22]

I wonder if that sign passed by the city attorney's office?

Seems like a huge liability - do they expect a blind person to be able to read that sign? I don't think that would hold up in court, however I am glad to see they at least are open to "looking the other way" if it's going to be a while before they start working on it again in earnest.

[shawnw]

See the city's response to Steve's retweet of my tweet...

https://twitter.com/stevelackmeyer/s...86533275611136