I-40 crosstown construction in limbo?

[decepticobra]

it seems its taking an everlong time for progress to develop for the new route of the I-40 crosstown project.

does anyone know what the hold-up is on this project?

I have even forgotten the initial completion date and the exact route its supposed to take. if anyone knows the scoop on this and can also post a map of the new route the completed highway will run, please do.

[betts]

it seems its taking an everlong time for progress to develop for the new route of the I-40 crosstown project.

does anyone know what the hold-up is on this project?

I have even forgotten the initial completion date and the exact route its supposed to take. if anyone knows the scoop on this and can also post a map of the new route the completed highway will run, please do.

They're currently grading it.

The Associated Press: Okla. commission OKs final grading of Crosstown

[adaniel]

it seems its taking an everlong time for progress to develop for the new route of the I-40 crosstown project.

does anyone know what the hold-up is on this project?

I have even forgotten the initial completion date and the exact route its supposed to take. if anyone knows the scoop on this and can also post a map of the new route the completed highway will run, please do.

Really?

It seems to me they're making pretty good progress on it. It may seem slow because the connections to the old I-40 (what most people see) are pretty much done. If you want to see where the work stands go down to the Shields Blvd bridge and look west, you can see them working on it.

And I must add that the I-35 project in Norman is progressing quite nicely as well. Is ODOT finally picking decent, prudent contractors for a change?

[BDP]

I think they're going to have to move some railroad tracks before this is done and I haven't seen any work on that. Penn has been closed at the river for a long time and they can't complete that bridge until the tracks are moved. I have no idea if they have any of those issues resolved or not.

[mugofbeer]

It seems to me that Railroad work always takes an extraordinarily long time.

[LordGerald]

it seems its taking an everlong time for progress to develop for the new route of the I-40 crosstown project.

does anyone know what the hold-up is on this project?

I have even forgotten the initial completion date and the exact route its supposed to take. if anyone knows the scoop on this and can also post a map of the new route the completed highway will run, please do.

I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but things are progressing nicely on the Crosstown. I took a tour of the construction last April and there is a substantial amount of work being done beyond the eye of the average motorist. The STB ruling this summer was the last hurdle. If anything, the project is slightly ahead of schedule and the 2012 date is still plausible.

Here is a link to a website that has semi-regular updates:

40 Forward: Oklahoma's I-40 Crosstown Expressway

[soonerguru]

Does this have anything to do with Saint Coburn holding up the road funds? You can't read about it in the Oklahoman, of course, because they run news articles describing him as "no nonsense" but ignore when he holds up funding for the vets. I'm sure they're not all over this, either.

[king183]

Does this have anything to do with Saint Coburn holding up the road funds? You can't read about it in the Oklahoman, of course, because they run news articles describing him as "no nonsense" but ignore when he holds up funding for the vets. I'm sure they're not all over this, either.

Wow...there goes Soonerguru not letting the facts get in her way. Perhaps try going to newsok.com and entering the word "Coburn" in the search option. You'll see at least 3 articles they've written on the veterans issue. Pre-conceived notions are hard to overcome, I know.

Back on topic: as mentioned by previous posters, there is no delay and the project is moving along quite nicely. Maybe that's why the Oklahoman has been ignoring the delay.

[bombermwc]

I'm confused at what the crap they are doing on the west interchange area. moving the lanes on the west bound side and taking out the shoulder on the east bound on ramp. And it's way far back from the new road path....it's weird.

[OKCisOK4me]

I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, but things are progressing nicely on the Crosstown. I took a tour of the construction last April and there is a substantial amount of work being done beyond the eye of the average motorist. The STB ruling this summer was the last hurdle. If anything, the project is slightly ahead of schedule and the 2012 date is still plausible.

Here is a link to a website that has semi-regular updates:

40 Forward: Oklahoma's I-40 Crosstown Expressway

Another useful page is within ODOT's website:

Award Notices - Calendar Year 2009

Every month you can see the projects that are awarded to the contracters & they have very detailed information. They go by county and so obviously you want to look for OKLAHOMA.

This project is moving right along...

It seems to me that Railroad work always takes an extraordinarily long time.

I have been in contact with John Bowman, Project Development Engineer, from ODOT and he provided me with a map back on January 26th, 2009 showing me their current projects--basically the grading of everything from the east end of the project to Shields and the west end of the project to halfway between Western & Walker.

As far as the western most end of the project--and I might have stated this in my other thread about I-40 contract work--the two bridges you see on the west end of the project that go over Agnew are the Eastbound bridges (one is the main thoroughfare, the smaller one is to connect into the future boulevard. I can only imagine that they won't be able to build the Westbound main thoroughfare until they move the current Eastbound traffic elsewhere because it will jut right into where the highway currently is. In regards to the UPRR mainline. It basically hugs the new I-40 until just west of Pennsylvania where it then slightly curves up back into the mainline. The new overpass bridges that will tie into the future boulevard are just south and east of where the current I-40 goes over the UPRR line. Unfortunately they cannot disrupt rail traffic so I have a feeling that Pennsylvania will be closed until they can divert traffic to the new I-40 and bulldoze the old connection to then create that new leg of the UP line.

[Platemaker]

it seems its taking an everlong time for progress to develop for the new route of the I-40 crosstown project.

does anyone know what the hold-up is on this project?

I have even forgotten the initial completion date and the exact route its supposed to take. if anyone knows the scoop on this and can also post a map of the new route the completed highway will run, please do.

Really? I've got the opposite impression.

[ronronnie1]

Seems like the work is moving along nicely to me. But what do I know?

[OKCisOK4me]

Since I can't edit my last post, here's a pic:

Sorry about the clarity... It was a PDF file and I couldn't figure out how to transfer one of those into a thread or make a jpeg file out of it, so I just took a picture of it with my cell phone and emailed it to myself--damn technology is suppose to be easy!

[muzique808]

Sorry about the clarity... It was a PDF file and I couldn't figure out how to transfer one of those into a thread or make a jpeg file out of it, so I just took a picture of it with my cell phone and emailed it to myself--damn technology is suppose to be easy!

Do you have a link to the original of this PDF?

[soonerfan_in_okc]

does anyone know what is up with all of the construction work on the current i-40 crosstown bridge? it seems everytime i go by at night, one side or the other is narrowed to one lane and they are working on it.

[Larry OKC]

My guess is they are just repairing the latest hole that opened up? Last I heard we spend about $1M a year in repairs alone. Can only hope it lasts another couple of years until the new one is open

[bombermwc]

See that image above shows that it's not the blvd...it's the actual highway that you see bridges for.....the blvd is in the wrong place for the bridges you see from I-40....which also makes even less sense why they are doing the stuff they are doing near the amarillo junction.

I understand that they'll have to work out a plan to actually integrate the two roads together....but what I don't understand is what that has to do with things like removing the shoulder for the eastbound onramp to 40 from 44. It's farther east than the new road meets up beacuse it's still within the junciton.

[OKCisOK4me]

Do you have a link to the original of this PDF?

Nope, he sent it as an attachment in an email. It's not on a site.

[OKCisOK4me]

See that image above shows that it's not the blvd...it's the actual highway that you see bridges for.....the blvd is in the wrong place for the bridges you see from I-40....which also makes even less sense why they are doing the stuff they are doing near the amarillo junction.

I understand that they'll have to work out a plan to actually integrate the two roads together....but what I don't understand is what that has to do with things like removing the shoulder for the eastbound onramp to 40 from 44. It's farther east than the new road meets up beacuse it's still within the junciton.

I believe this is what you're referring to:

Looking East From May Avenue

I too am wondering what is going on here. The only item that comes to mind is that they're going to create an exit only lane for Agnew/Villa, which is the same on ramp lane from I-44 Northbound to I-40 Eastbound.

[henrywc]

Nope, he sent it as an attachment in an email. It's not on a site.

If you go to the ODOT site for the construction, you can view/download the maps from here:
Index of /newsmedia/i40-okc/maps
Be careful; the second map will take a while (3.7 Mb)

[Pete]

Here's a good aerial video from a couple of months ago:

Video Player

[ronronnie1]

It seems like I saw a bunch of construction pictures of I40 on Doug's blog. I don't live in the metro, so I was kind of surprised at the level of progress already. Bridges, overpasses, graded lanes, even graffiti already! I really didn't expect it to be this far - seeing how everything seems to take decades to get off the ground.

[bombermwc]

Well one thing that's weird with this project is beacuse it's being built away from the current road, you don't really see much happening. They've done a lot of work, and the actual surface road work won't take much time to lay down. So overnight, we'll see a road come out of no where. But until then, we're going to see what looks like a whole lotta nothin'.

[ronronnie1]

^^^You're absolutely correct.