I seem to have a hazy memory of a pedestrian bridge over I-35 near S.E. Grand Blvd. I have an image of a spiraling stairway and a concrete bridge. Does anyone else remember this?
I seem to have a hazy memory of a pedestrian bridge over I-35 near S.E. Grand Blvd. I have an image of a spiraling stairway and a concrete bridge. Does anyone else remember this?
what an interesting design for a bridge....a large erected spike jutting up into the air.
just the perfect design we need in our very meteorolgical and tornadically active city.
i guess if a tornado ever decides to rip that spike off, its gonna hurl it at some building and will eventually impale someone.
nice.
A tornado is more likely to twist it into a pretzel than rip it off, in my inexpert opinion. I haven't looked at lots of tornado damage, but what I have seen makes me think the pretzel option is likelier.
Now that you say that, I remember it too. Also, if I remember right, there was a fatality associated with that bridge, where someone standing on it dropped a cinderblock or something onto the windshield of a car passing underneath and it killed the driver. If I reach into the really craggy depths of my memory I even want to say that the victim was a woman. If these recollections are correct, it might have had something to do with the bridge's removal.
I don't remember the inicident, but I do remember the bridge in the foreground of a view of the oil derricks looking north northwest from I-35.
I think someone jumped off of either grand or 29th street bridge in 2005 or so. I was driving S. on I-35 and it was closed in that area, there was a body with a sheet on it in one of the south bound lanes.
Yeah, but most current vehicular bridges over interstates also have sidewalks, and it's not like there is an epidemic of that type of thing (knock on wood).
OKC Council to decide on pedestrian bridge cost
By Brian Brus
Oklahoma City reporter
Posted: 06:03 PM Friday, October 22, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – City Council members will decide Tuesday whether to approve a slight increase in the contract price for the Core to Shore Interstate 40 pedestrian bridge in response to rising construction costs.
While the overall construction cost for the Skydance Bridge near a planned massive central park has increased $1.58 million and the design fees have risen by $180,000, the bridge itself has been reduced in scope to fall within budget.
In mid-2008, Obelisk Engineering Inc., doing business as Butzer SXL, entered into a contract with Oklahoma City municipal government to provide the conceptual design of the pedestrian bridge. A Consultant Review Committee report ranked MKEC Engineering Consultants and Butzer Design Partnership as the top-rated firm for what became known as SkyDance Bridge.
“This iconic bridge is a pivotal element in the city’s efforts to provide a strong pedestrian connection between the downtown core and
the Oklahoma River as outlined in the city’s Core-to-Shore plan,” City Manager Jim Couch said to council members in a memo.
The bridge at SW Ninth Street and Harvey Avenue is expected to be one of the most visible elements of extensive redevelopment of 750 acres between the downtown district and the Oklahoma River. City leaders set projects in motion several years ago to coincide with the relocation of Interstate 40.
Since the contract was signed, the estimated construction cost for the project increased from $5.22 million to about $12.8 million.
“The significantly increased estimated construction cost exceeds the city’s budget authorization for this project and, accordingly, the engineer/architect has been directed to redesign the bridge to remain within the $6.8 million estimated construction cost budget,” the upper limit originally approved for the project, Couch said.
Given the economic limitations, the engineer/architect’s efforts on the original design have been stopped at 85 percent of completion and a second option has been commissioned instead. The original work will be maintained on file in the event additional funds become available for possible completion, Couch said.
The original SkyDance Bridge concept involved a sculpturelike cable stay structure that was integral to the bridge. The redesign will incorporate a trussed bridge with a self-supporting sculptural “bird” concept, Couch said.
Public Works Director Dennis Clowers said construction is scheduled to begin in March in order to match work on I-40 by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. The city has already let a contract to lay the foundation for the center pier of the bridge.
The project is being funded by a series of general obligation bonds approved in 1989, 1995 and 2000.
This p***** me off to no end... "scuptural bird concept".... good grief!
Unbelievable! How does the price double!!!! This is so ridiculous. As usual, OKC had an opportunity to have something iconic, but instead we will have something half ass. I am very disappointed.
Damn it! How in the hell does the price more than double in 1 1/2 years?? It's perfectly designed the way it was/is, it would have been iconic and anyone that would have passed through OKC would remember it for it's design. If they can't make it look like it was originally suppose to (Lighting, Size, Design), I say they hold off on it until they can some how come up with the money. This bridge is an important part of our city's image IMO.
Classic. Things in Oklahoma always end up half-assed.
This is no different than anything else they do. It's always scale back,just like they are doing to the Ford Center. This shouldn't be a surprise and I am SURE that some of the other projects planned will be SCALED BACK.
A "Bird" concept??? Ha ha ha ha ha! I'd rather they put $1 a week into a piggy bank and just wait until the difference is made up. If I recall correctly, wasn't there an OKC centric show on OETA where Couch intimated that the bridge wouldn't be built for 20 or 25 years? Maybe that was the beeping sound warning of this impending regression. So.... yeah. Lame.
I'm not sure, in this economy, how construction costs double. I thought one of the reasons Larry Nichols had workers on the tower all shifts was to take advantage of the decreased costs we are currently experiencing.
Is steel any higher than it was at the time this project was planned? Certainly labor costs must be lower or the same. I'm wondering if the previous assessments were optimistic rather than realistic.
Regardless, people are going to be unhappy. If the city said it was going to build the bridge as planned regardless of cost, we'd have a different set of people outraged from the group outraged if we don't spend the money to do it right. Lose-lose.
Anybody surprised in the increase in price hasn't been paying attention to the cost of metals.
They should've paid up for everything in place. :-/
I totally agree Thunder. Why didn't they go ahead and buy the materials while the costs where historically low, store it somewhere and then wait and install once ODOT was ready with the road???????
AND while we're at it and talking about the Ford Center, why did they have to scale it back? I know the tax receipts were down, but I thought the Practice Facility costs were down in reciprical, basically meaning the loss in tax was made up by loser cost to the Practice Facility. If this is true, then shouldn't the Ford Center be built as promised????
OMG - OKC city government is really losing out on trust here. I hope this doesn't end up hurting future MAPS votes. .. (I know this bridge isn't part of MAPs, but it WILL be connected to it and if the bridge isn't built as was promised it will cast doubt against future MAPS or tax increases).....
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
I don't know about storage for the materials, but they could've paid the companies upfront for these orders and only deliver when ready. OKC failed and hardcore at that.
Devon obviously bought and stored materials for their skyscraper construction.
Why didn't OKC for this bridge, for Ford Center?
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
trussed bridge=boring. I can't even conceptualize something on top bc trusses are about symmetry. We need renderings/elevations. Help us out Steve/someone. This could be a disaster!
The price doubled because the designers didn't design the bridge within the stated budget to begin with. They designed a bridge that they knew they would win the competition with. There was no way that bridge was going to get built for $7 million from the start
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