The New I-40 (Construction Updates)

[BoulderSooner]

that press release has little to do with traffic opening east bound on the new I 40 sooner or later ..

[Bellaboo]

They put a couple of signs up on the new standards. The north side sign says 'Amarillo', with a couple of lane arrows pointing down. That's a definite for both directions sharing the east bound lane.

[SSEiYah]

How many lanes is the new eastbound stretch from I-44 to Penn? 3 in each direction with no shoulder?

[OKCRT]

I thought it was 3 lanes each way with a hov lane making it a total of 4 each way.

[Bellaboo]

How many lanes is the new eastbound stretch from I-44 to Penn? 3 in each direction with no shoulder?

It will be 5 each direction when complete. But for the construction of the west bound bridge over Agnew, they are going to have the west bound traffic share the east bound lane for about a mile or so, so 3 lanes in each direction I guess.

forwardI40 is a good site that shows all of the lanes, etc.

[SSEiYah]

I guess I mean for the temporary alignment while they build the westbound bridge.

[Bellaboo]

I'm guessing for the temporary lanes, but if it's 5 lanes normally, it'd be hard enough to put a divider down the middle and 3 lanes on each side.

I just know that by the signage they added this week, you can tell that the new east bound lanes will share both directions of traffic for a while.

[OKCisOK4me]

Judging from the.looks of the pipe signage, I'm gonna guess 3 East lames and 2 west lanes.

[Bellaboo]

I saw the 2 west bound lane arrows to Amarillo also. I wonder if they are going to divert the I-44 north bound exit further east of the merge connection to the old I-40 ???

[jn1780]

There are detailed traffic control plans for the western project that goes up for bid this month. Every single sign, barrel, concrete barrier, and painted line is listed. May bridge will have 3 westbound and 4 eastbound(the lane coming from I-44 ends at this point). Agnew will have 3 westbound and 3 eastbound.

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht103.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht104.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht105.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht106.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht107.pdf

[Bellaboo]

That says it all........thanks jn1780

[MDot]

There are detailed traffic control plans for the western project that goes up for bid this month. Every single sign, barrel, concrete barrier, and painted line is listed. May bridge will have 3 westbound and 4 eastbound(the lane coming from I-44 ends at this point). Agnew will have 3 westbound and 3 eastbound.

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht103.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht104.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht105.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht106.pdf
http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/contr...a%20sht107.pdf

That's just for the temporary alignment, yea or nay?

[jn1780]

That's just for the temporary alignment, yea or nay?

Correct

[ljbab728]

A very interesting interview by Steve. He is speaking with Keith Angier who is vice president of MacArthur Associated Consultants. That company is the project manager for the I40 relocation project. It sounds like a 4 lane boulevard is a real possibility now instead of 6 lanes.

http://newsok.com/okc-central-downto.../1277728545001

[Snowman]

A very interesting interview by Steve. He is speaking with Keith Angier who is vice president of MacArthur Associated Consultants. That company is the project manager for the I40 relocation project. It sounds like a 4 lane boulevard is a real possibility now instead of 6 lanes.

http://newsok.com/okc-central-downto.../1277728545001

Hopefully they drop it down to four lanes in the controlled access portion too, not only does a 3 to 1 merge almost ask for traffic to consistently back ups heading west but with six lanes several sections vehicles will have no place to pull over to if breaking down. Having it be four lanes not only should leave enough room to so at any point but some areas could have space on both sides.

[soonerliberal]

I would love to see a four lane divided boulevard (extensively landscaped) on the western end of the stretch.

[Bellaboo]

Sounds like this new boulevard will be open sometime in 2014......we could only hope.

[bombermwc]

snowman - you're assuming the blvd will even have anyone on it. It's just another surface road really. It can't follow the crosstown's old path exactlly without a lot of work being done at the surface level to remove structures, roads, intersections, etc that currently exist. You don't need a lot of the things that currently tie up traffice (like the under the bridge lights controlling 6 directions of traffic). And what's to visit on that blvd anyway? It's mostly crap for the next what, 30 years? If you're going downtown, you'll still take I-40 and take a downtown exit otherwise you're going to sit through miles of lights on the blvd. So i don't really think traffic is going to be an issue.

[Snowman]

snowman - you're assuming the blvd will even have anyone on it. It's just another surface road really. It can't follow the crosstown's old path exactlly without a lot of work being done at the surface level to remove structures, roads, intersections, etc that currently exist. You don't need a lot of the things that currently tie up traffice (like the under the bridge lights controlling 6 directions of traffic). And what's to visit on that blvd anyway? It's mostly crap for the next what, 30 years? If you're going downtown, you'll still take I-40 and take a downtown exit otherwise you're going to sit through miles of lights on the blvd. So i don't really think traffic is going to be an issue.

While the plans may change for the middle, it is unlikely they will change any of the concrete west of Western. The previous version had only had five major crossings with lights: Walker, Hudson, Robinson, Shields/Gaylord and Oklahoma. Given the layout of the exits, unless their are a lot more lights added their are several ways eastbound and westbound that make more sense trough the boulevard than the new exits.

[dmoor82]

Doesnt the alternate streetcar route go South onto where the new Blvd. will be,or am I wrong?It seems like the new Blvd. would be a perfect place to put a stretch of the streetcar to spur on development for the new Blvd!

[dmoor82]

Isnt the Blue line stretch where the now I-40 is the alternate route for the core streetcar route?It seems like this would be a better option than the Reno option and it would spur on development for the new Blvd!

[Snowman]

Doesnt the alternate streetcar route go South onto where the new Blvd. will be,or am I wrong?It seems like the new Blvd. would be a perfect place to put a stretch of the streetcar to spur on development for the new Blvd!

I believe so, their were a few advantages to it, it has been a while since I heard them so the thread on the street car is a better source for the details than my memory. Of course like the boulevard things may change from the current plans.

[king183]

A very interesting interview by Steve. He is speaking with Keith Angier who is vice president of MacArthur Associated Consultants. That company is the project manager for the I40 relocation project. It sounds like a 4 lane boulevard is a real possibility now instead of 6 lanes.

http://newsok.com/okc-central-downto.../1277728545001

Great interview, Steve. Please try to do as many of these on-video interviews as you possibly can. I--and I'm sure others--got a lot more out that interview than I got out of many articles in the paper (of course, that's clearly due to the limitation of space with articles).

[Steve]

Thanks King. We're experimenting a bit here...

[BoulderSooner]

Isnt the Blue line stretch where the now I-40 is the alternate route for the core streetcar route?It seems like this would be a better option than the Reno option and it would spur on development for the new Blvd!

it all depends on cost .. the "blue line" as it is called here will no doubt go into bricktown and cost will be a major factor the sheridon and reno bridges may be expensive to get under the new boulevard will have a new bridge but it also takes quite a bid more track to go to the BLVD so we will see