Driving Forward OK - Oklahoma Turnpike Improvements and New Construction

[AP]

Ok. Let's build it then. Save me ten minutes on my drive from dfw to tulsa.

[bradh]

Ok. Let's build it then. Save me ten minutes on my drive from dfw to tulsa.

I don't even think it's about saving time for driver's whose destination is NOT Oklahoma City, it's about freeing up capacity for local drivers (I think...).

[Zorba]

I don't even think it's about saving time for driver's whose destination is NOT Oklahoma City, it's about freeing up capacity for local drivers (I think...).

I can't figure out what out of towners would actually benefit from this either.

• DFW-Tulsa, After you deal with I-35 to I-40, it'd be quicker and much shorter to go up on 235 or 35.
• Tulsa-DFW, Maybe, but it would be much longer and you'd still have to deal with the horrible I-40/I-35S interchange and the traffic on I-35S through Norman
• I-40W-Tulsa, Again, it would be shorter and quicker to go up Kilpatrick, I-44, 235 or 35
• Ft Smith-Wichita, You'd go through Tulsa.

I would love to see the traffic models for this and how it will relieve I-35 or I-235 at all. This will also be the 5th North-South Highway that is bound by I-40 on the south and the Turner/Kilpatrick on North. Only one goes farther North and only 2 go further South.

According to the traffic counts from ODOT, Sooner Road at 240 already has more traffic (16,900 cars a day and 32,300 at I-40) on it than they are predicting for this turnpike. I-35 at I-240 is running 10x the predicted amount, at 140,000 cars a day. Broadway in Edmond is at 52,400.

I am all for infrastructure getting built. I just don't see how this will benefit the metro compared to many other corridors that are very under served today. This will be the lowest traffic highway in OKC or Tulsa, and will not relieve the current highways in the metro.

Traffic Counts

Edit: I just looked up OTA's traffic counts. There is no way this turnpike will see anywhere near 15,000 cars a day any time soon. The OKC Terminus of the Turner is only pulling 28K a day and the Kilpatrick @ I-40 is only 21K/day.

This will have less traffic than the Creek in East BA, which is pulling 10K/day. Which is closer in and serves as a real bypass around Tulsa.