I-235 / I-44 Interchange

[warreng88]

I thought the ramp that Anonymous posted about is the SW quadrant.

Sorry, meant the southeast quadrant.

[bchris02]

I would like to see a four level stack or maybe even a dual level highway like I-35 through Austin.

[LakeEffect]

I would like to see a four level stack or maybe even a dual level highway like I-35 through Austin.

Where? And why?

[Plutonic Panda]

EB 44 to SB 235 ramp is almost complete.

They built that monstorosity very quickly. However, this was the part of the project that deals with existing traffic the least.

Why is it a monstrosity?

[OKCisOK4me]

I would like to see a four level stack or maybe even a dual level highway like I-35 through Austin.

As much as we'd all like to see something besides cloverleafs, ODOT will never answer our personal wishes :-(

[Anonymous.]

Why is it a monstrosity?

It is very long and large for a ramp. And it crosses a pretty good size valley/creek bed.

[bchris02]

As much as we'd all like to see something besides cloverleafs, ODOT will never answer our personal wishes :-(

I've very easy to tell which states actually take pride in their interchanges and which states do not. Along I-40, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Tennessee design very elaborate and impressive interchanges. Oklahoma, Arkansas, and North Carolina are for some reason still doing cloverleafs. Charlotte's interchanges for the most part are worse than OKC's with the exception of one 4-level stack that is impressive. I would really like to see the I-40/I-44 interchange replaced with a 4 or 5 level stack.

[OKCisOK4me]

It is very long and large for a ramp. And it crosses a pretty good size valley/creek bed.

It's a monstrosity because the thing forks as it will be a bi-directional ramp (to the right, southbound, to the left, one of the two flyover ramps).

[stlokc]

What am I missing with this "4-level" or "5-level" stack fetish?

I'm not an engineer, but I do understand why different types of interchanges are more conducive to traffic flow. But I struggle to think of even one "3-level" let alone "4-level" or "5-level" stack interchange in St. Louis, and St. Louis is far larger with much more traffic than OKC. (We have at least eliminated cloverleafs for the most part). Things seem to run smoothly through our interchanges.

Seems like a colossal waste of resources if it's not really needed.

[adaniel]

What am I missing with this "4-level" or "5-level" stack fetish?

Texas envy, mostly. As far as I'm concerned those guys can have it.

FWIW there is a three level stack at 44 and 270 in STL (Isn't that Fenton?). Very similar in design to what will be built at 35/240. Seemed quite efficient to me.

[OKCisOK4me]

Fetish. Love it. I'm surprised anyone would have Texas envy...unless you lived in Dallas for 6 years. You know who you are ;-)

[vaflyer]

Is the SW quadrant next?

The next project is to rebuild the 50th st and railroad bridges.

[Plutonic Panda]

It's a monstrosity because the thing forks as it will be a bi-directional ramp (to the right, southbound, to the left, one of the two flyover ramps).

I didn't catch that. What do you mean? Are you saying it is deceptive?

[Plutonic Panda]

It is very long and large for a ramp. And it crosses a pretty good size valley/creek bed.

It looks alright to me. I think they made it long so you can gain speed to merge on the highway at speed limit(of course no one in this city seems to understand that concept lol)

[bchris02]

Fetish. Love it. I'm surprised anyone would have Texas envy...unless you lived in Dallas for 6 years. You know who you are ;-)

Texas cities - Dallas, Houston, and Austin are seeing explosive job growth, development, and population growth that OKC can currently only dream of. Texas does have its negatives especially for urbanists however. Their massive freeways promote major sprawl, but is OKC really that much different? Our urban, downtown community is still pretty small compared to the metro area as a whole. Texas has done a lot right which is why they are seeing the boom that they are seeing now. Don't take this post wrong; I am not saying that OKC isn't growing because it is, its just not growing at near the explosive rate Texas is.

[workman45]

It looks alright to me. I think they made it long so you can gain speed to merge on the highway at speed limit(of course no one in this city seems to understand that concept lol)

Isn't that the truth!! LOL!
"Now that I've pulled onto the interstate at 45 MPH and caused the multi car pileup, I'll stomp on the gas and blend in to the normal traffic," exclaims the evil villain!

[OKCisOK4me]

Texas cities - Dallas, Houston, and Austin are seeing explosive job growth, development, and population growth that OKC can currently only dream of. Texas does have its negatives especially for urbanists however. Their massive freeways promote major sprawl, but is OKC really that much different? Our urban, downtown community is still pretty small compared to the metro area as a whole. Texas has done a lot right which is why they are seeing the boom that they are seeing now. Don't take this post wrong; I am not saying that OKC isn't growing because it is, its just not growing at near the explosive rate Texas is.

and that is FINE by me.

Had someone in my store this weekend for his son's wedding and he's a long time resident of Fort Worth and he believes the transportation infrastructure down there is horrendous. They may be way ahead of us but it's still bad he says. Probably due to the "explosive" job growth, which is why Texas just keeps building bigger and bigger.

[venture]

Texas cities - Dallas, Houston, and Austin are seeing explosive job growth, development, and population growth that OKC can currently only dream of. Texas does have its negatives especially for urbanists however. Their massive freeways promote major sprawl, but is OKC really that much different? Our urban, downtown community is still pretty small compared to the metro area as a whole. Texas has done a lot right which is why they are seeing the boom that they are seeing now. Don't take this post wrong; I am not saying that OKC isn't growing because it is, its just not growing at near the explosive rate Texas is.

I wonder how rapidly they would grow if we ever saw another oil/gas price bust?

[Plutonic Panda]

I wonder how rapidly they would grow if we ever saw another oil/gas price bust?

Not sure about Houston, but Dallas has a fairly diverse economy and I believe Austin is the same as well.

[Snowman]

I wonder how rapidly they would grow if we ever saw another oil/gas price bust?

Natural gas had it's own bust a few years ago

[warreng88]

The ODOT eight year plan:

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/cwp-8...021_OCARTS.pdf

[warreng88]

The ODOT eight year plan:

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/cwp-8...021_OCARTS.pdf

From the link:

I-235/I-44 Interchange
FFY 2015 Grade, Draining, Bridge & Surface $23,301,063
FFY 2015 Grade, Draining, Bridge & Surface $31,310,000
FFY 2015 Force Account $1,750,000
FFY 2018 Grade, Draining, Bridge & Surface $31,000,000
FFY 2019 Grade, Draining, Bridge & Surface $40,949,293
FFY 2019 Grade, Draining, Bridge & Surface $24,000,000
Total $152,310,356I

I would guess from all this that the first two will be the NE and SE quadrants, the 2018 would be the lower of the flyover ramps, the first 2019 would be the higher of the flyover ramps and the last one would be the widening and work on the southbound 235 with the cloverleafs of the west side.

[Plutonic Panda]

Hopefully it will get moved up like the other projects.

[OklahomaNick]

Anyone else notice that they are paving with an asphalt on the new & almost complete EB I44 to SB I-235 in the SW corner of the quadrant?
Is this temporary? They moved and cleared a LOT of area to just have one asphalt lane going through there.
And they typically only use concrete on highway projects. Must be temporary, but why?

[OKCisOK4me]

Anyone else notice that they are paving with an asphalt on the new & almost complete EB I44 to SB I-235 in the SW corner of the quadrant?
Is this temporary? They moved and cleared a LOT of area to just have one asphalt lane going through there.
And they typically only use concrete on highway projects. Must be temporary, but why?

I believe they lay asphalt down first and then place reinforcing bars down to then pour concrete over it to form the lane.