I-235 / I-44 Interchange

[Pete]

Are we sure that Santa Fe bridge has been deleted?

I've been watching this big embankment, not understanding the purpose:

[Snowman]

It looks like it is just where they had the dump trucks drop off soil that will be used later around the rest of the project

[Pete]

Here is a closer look:

[jn1780]

Well, you have to put the dirt somewhere. You could either spend a lot more money to haul it off somewhere or you could put it in a spot where you could maybe someday actually build a new bridge/road extension if you get the funding or when growth demands it.

[5alive]

It seems the dirt is formed up too nicely just to be a dumping area for extra soil.

[TheTravellers]

It seems the dirt is formed up too nicely just to be a dumping area for extra soil.

I was thinking that too - way too structured/groomed and looks exactly like a base for a future ramp.

[HOT ROD]

smartasses

[David]

I can't imagine the Santa Fe bridge happening at this point. No work has been done for the necessary piers crossing 44, and the layout of Santa Fe south of 44 and the off ramp from 235 don't look like something that is going to be extended into a bridge.

Whatever that earthwork on the north side is for, it's got to be for something else.

[LakeEffect]

I can't imagine the Santa Fe bridge happening at this point. No work has been done for the necessary piers crossing 44, and the layout of Santa Fe south of 44 and the off ramp from 235 don't look like something that is going to be extended into a bridge.

Whatever that earthwork on the north side is for, it's got to be for something else.

IIRC, I was told the original thought would be that the Santa Fe connection would help with detours and traffic relief during construction... so it would have been built among the first things. I think they're just stockpiling dirt in an orderly fashion just in case something were to be built someday.

[jn1780]

It seems the dirt is formed up too nicely just to be a dumping area for extra soil.

I'm sure the contract did call for the dirt to be formed up in that area. Whether or not they actually do something with it is another question. There is nothing on the eight year plan that I recall that mentions a Santa Fe bridge at this point in time.

[Plutonic Panda]

Whatever that earthwork on the north side is for, it's got to be for something else.

Hopefully it is to one day build the bridge. That bridge would help with the street network. OkDOT has told me in an email that the Santa Fe was canceled.

[Pete]

Hopefully it is to one day build the bridge. That bridge would help with the street network. OkDOT has told me in an email that the Santa Fe was canceled.

Right now, you cannot go south of 63rd and get south of I-44 without getting on I-235 and even then you can't exit until 36th, 2 miles down the road.

You have to go all the way over to Western or Kelly in order to cross I-44.

[Plutonic Panda]

Here is cropped photo enlarging this area.

"Reconstruction of westbound I-44 ramp to northbound I-235/US-77 and addition of a direct connect from N. Lincoln Blvd. to US-77/Broadway Ext. is estimated at $16.8 million and currently scheduled for construction in 2022."
https://www.ok.gov/odot/I-235_I-44_interchange.html

The work is likely related to the proposed cul-de-sac OkDOT plans to build. At least they left the door open for the bridge to be constructed in the future with cul-de-sac, not sure why else they would build that.

[Pete]

[rte66man]

The dirt is mounded in the wrong direction to be pat of any future overpass. Besides, it is the remnants of the original excavations from state 1. It used to be quite a lot larger.

[David]

That's one cloverleaf gone.

[jn1780]

That's one cloverleaf gone.

They built that temp off-ramp from I-44 pretty fast after they removed the cloverleaf.

[I235+I44]

@Pete
Appreciate the continuous supply of pics as we progress through the project. I open the images in new tabs and enjoy watching them, taking my sweet time.

[bucktalk]

@Pete
Appreciate the continuous supply of pics as we progress through the project. I open the images in new tabs and enjoy watching them, taking my sweet time.

Same! Same!

[Pete]

[David]

Good looking progress on the second flyover.

[Pete]

Good looking progress on the second flyover.

There is still much to be done to tie it into northbound I-235 and NW 63rd.

But that has to be done before they can remove the EB 44 to NB 235 cloverleaf and then finish that middle section of 235.


This is an incredibly complex project.

[jn1780]

Yeah, both I-44 EB and I-44 WB ramps to NB Broadway extension will go underneath the 63rd off-ramp bridge. The last phase of this project will do something similar with I-44 EB to NB Broadway also going underneath another on-ramp bridge carrying traffic from Lincoln Avenue.

[rte66man]

The new WB 44 to NB 77 ramp adds a 3rd killer (no) merge to that interchange, long with SB 63rd to 77 and NB 235 to WB 44. I realize the lack of a decent merge area is temporary but I can't help but think they could have done better.

[HFAA Alum]

I really wish ODOT would've planned for an additional flyover, namely from the I-44 west to the I-235 south. Since the office is in the way of a flyover from south to east, the cloverleaf would be the more ergonomic choice for that merge. But from the space that seems to be available with the Santa Fe crossing being scrapped, I see that there could be the opportunity and availability to move that cloverleaf access and run it over the interchange, turning it into a 5-stack. Having two lanes of traffic dedicated to two cloverleaf accesses would only move the bottleneck to one lane of traffic, causing backup nightmares for the right lane looking to merge from 63rd to I-235 south.

In short, it provides a temporary solution but creates a long-living problem that future generations of drivers would have to deal with. Wasted opportunity.