Lots of pillars. Wonder how they will build new main bridges and keep 2 lanes open in both directions.
Lots of pillars. Wonder how they will build new main bridges and keep 2 lanes open in both directions.
Ok, I can it now. Looks like once they finish some flyovers and move west side on/off ramps they will have room to squeeze it in on the west side. Thanks for the pics that helps! Driving by you don’t get the same visual. Making good progress
They are probably a couple of weeks away from shifting SB lanes onto new pavement south and north of the bridge that goes over I44. That bridge will be the very last thing that is completed.
From ODOT: Lane Shifts Coming Tuesday Morning
I-235 ramp, lanes close at I-44 Saturday, Monday night
I-235 and I-44 ramp and lane closures are scheduled through the weekend to prepare for a major traffic shift. Motorists who cannot avoid the area by taking alternate routes are advised to plan extra travel time and expect delays and congestion early next week as traffic adjusts. By Tuesday morning, southbound I-235/US-77 between N. 63rd St. and I-44 will be significantly shifted to the west onto new lanes.
The following closures will impact I-235 and I-44 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday:
Southbound I-235 off-ramp to eastbound I-44 will be closed;
Westbound I-44 off-ramp to southbound I-235/US-77 will be closed; and
I-235 will be narrowed to one lane in each direction between N. 50th St. and N. 63rd St.
The following closures will impact I-235 and I-44 from 7 p.m. Monday to 6 a.m. Tuesday:
Southbound I-235/US-77/Broadway Ext. on-ramp from Wilshire Blvd. will be closed;
Southbound I-235/US-77/Broadway Ext. on-ramp from N. 63rd will be closed;
Southbound I-235/US-77 off-ramp to westbound I-44 will be closed;
Southbound I-235/US-77 off-ramp to eastbound I-44 will be closed; and
Westbound I-44 off-ramp to southbound I-235/US-77 will be closed.
Motorists are advised to use additional caution when merging onto southbound I-235/US-77 from N. 63rd St. as this on-ramp will be shifted and the merge area will be shorter for a period of time.
One of my grandsons who lives in Texas (they're preparing to move to OKC) saw this area last week; he thought the reddish orange dirt was so neat. "Man, that's so neat, we don't have this color of dirt in Texas."
HAHAHA, i have relatives in Alabama that thought we were full of crap when we said our dirt was red. I had to show them some pictures for them to believe me. They just dont expect that clay content to show up that way for some reason. That's what you get when you used to be a inland sea......
How are things since they moved things over
I drove Northbound yesterday morning and traffic Southbound was backed all the way up to Britton. If you zoom in on the above pic you can see how far back traffic was backed up.
It's been a while since I've seen the full plans for this interchange. Where can I find them?
For about a week or so, 44 westbound has had the leftmost lane walled off just a ways west of this intersection. It's at a pretty odd place since the flow of traffic is starting to pick up after the slowdown around the northbound off ramp, and the lane reduction is not obviously visible when the signs first begin. I've seen quite a few cars merge in the right lane because there might be a lane merger, then not see the construction for a while so they'll pop out to the left lane, only to immediately run into the lane merger and have to force their way back in. Good news though, it has been around long enough that regular commuters have learned to just go ahead and merge before the underpass and not jump lanes prematurely, but this is starting to back the initial westbound slowdown up quite a bit as that lane has to fight with the northbound off ramp towards Edmond.
http://https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/adot-south-mountain-freeway-now-open
AzDOT builds 22 miles of new freeway and interchange without cloverleaf in 3 years. ODOT still working on this interchange for a decade with a design from the 50s
That freeway also passes through mountainous terrain, has two stack interchanges, and has 8 lanes. It is toll free and a beautiful freeway I drive there for the opening ceremony.
Certain projects are high priority for ADOT then in Tucson they will widen I-10 adding anywhere from 2-4 lanes in each direction tripling capacity yet that project is scheduled to take 20 years to complete.
Its all about the funding. We could do the same thing. But we have to wait for fed funds to drop each year plus spread it around. Its also about clout which states get a bigger piece of funds pie. OK is a donor state meaning we get less back than we pay in fed gas tax. The bigger states blackmail smaller states due to having so many congressmen in comparison. Its a broken system.
But it has zero to do with our construction industry they could do projects here just as fast. One would also need to look at this other state and see how many projects they have going and if they delayed others to do this one.
Look at our turnpikes for how fast we can do projects. Its a very complicated process. Personally I’d love to get them done in 3 years but you have to have the money and put other projects on backburner.
Funding is definitely part of it. Maricopa county passed a 1/2 cent sales tax just for funding transportation in 2004 and renewed it recently. But the OTA has all that "funding" but still can't design a proper interchange. Cloverleafs everywhere, left lane exits and entrances, ending or adding the left lane. The designers in this state can't grasp proper traffic flow into their designs... why?
I would say that goes back to funding. Even the OTA wants to do things as cheap as possible so this creates a culture of sticking to "cheapest designs possible" . The engineering talent in the state really has nothing to do with how things are designed. If ODOT or OTA wanted an expensive modern interchange, they could find an outside design firm if they wanted to.
AZ has about the same gas tax as OK but, as has been said, they passed a 2 cent sales tax in Maricopa County specifically to build urban highways - call it their MAPS for highways but its lasted longer but also with 4 times the people paying for it.
Its not about right, wrong, smart, stupid or anything else but funding. If ODOT had AZ level funding, OKC might have more direct access, high-speed interchanges and, l may be wrong but I don't think OK has built any left-hand exits and entrances in years - and yes, for the most part they should be replaced.
OKC chose to fund civic projects through MAPS. AZ chose highways.......and again with a far larger population.
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