Oklahoma River Development

[Dustin]

Very nice! The FLT looks great!

[wschnitt]

That is also what everything looks like as we speak. I row down there everyday out of that boathouse.

[OKCisOK4me]

I like how the backside of Devon looked last night as I'm going from 235 South to 40 West after the game. It's only lit up in all white but I like it!

[kevinpate]

is the finish line tower accessible?

[wschnitt]

is the finish line tower accessible?

What do you mean? Open to the public at this moment-no
Open open at all-it could be used I supposed but have only seen construction people go in and out.

Before the Devon Boathouse was finished they were encouraging us, the USRowing Athletes, to go in and look around, but none of my teammates have been in the timing tower.

[Goodengroup]

Not sure if I've already posted this or not, but this is a video tour of the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC. This is the type of facility OKC is aiming for at the Oklahoma River through MAPS 3.

Featuring: Jennifer Eve

[kevinpate]

What do you mean? Open to the public at this moment-no ...

Thanks, that's what I was wanting to know. Probably will do a bit of walk about this weekend and if it were accessible, I imagine some decent views would be possible. Oh well, another time then.

[stdennis]

Do we know where the whitewater facility is going to be located exactly? If not what are some of your guesses? How big is it going to be? In the video they had zip-lines are there going to be other things outdoorsy connected or near there?

[Architect2010]

My guess would be directly east of boathouse row. So that it's nestled between that district, I-40, and I-35.



For some reason, this is where I always imagined it. No idea how realistic this site is though.

[bluedogok]

Real pic, the building is still under construction.....

For one, if it is a rendering you would never purposefully make the grass that bad or show exposed Georgia-Pacific DensGlass Gold sheathing in a rendering. It would be "dressed up" a bit more than what that picture shows.

[Pete]

Architect, that would be the perfect place and should be about the right size.

Charlotte's facility is about 50 acres and the area you outlined is more like 35, but I don't think ours will be as big anyway.

[stdennis]

I think Charlotte's is about 30 something acres and 45 after you add the parking lot... The area he highlighted is about 25 acres i would hope we would have a parking garage and wouldn't need as much space for a parking lot. And the lot could be north of the boathouses and be shared among the the boathouses and the rapids. That area or the pull apart land are the two locations i was thinking would fit the best depending on size

[dankrutka]

It's crazy to think how awesome the river is going to be in a few years when this is all done (assuming it's done well). It will be agreat asset to OKC... Really excited.

[LuccaBrasi]

I believe that is where is has been envisioned for quite a while now. And Pete is correct, I think the OKC facility is planned to be a bit smaller than Charlotte's. I believe Charlotte's was originally envisioned to be near their urban core but it never materialzed for many reason, thus it ended up futher out. In the end, I think it will have a bigger impact on OKC than most citizens can even fathom in terms of tourism and OKC shocking everyone by becoming a destination location for water sports.

[metro]

Pretty sure it's going in between I-35 and eastern on the north shore. I bet it's very unlikely to be at or near the highlighted section above. I'd also imagine that'd make too much current where they race row boats, where the more still the water, the better.

[stdennis]

Well the place you just said is near the highlighted section. Just on the other side of I-35. This will be a closed system and wont interact with the river at all except for the flat water rowing which is still water rowing.

[stdennis]

Here is a quick drawing of a quick course. I don't know much about rowing or mountain biking so this is just showing that the space is there for both.

The pink is walking for hiking and standing, and sitting for viewing.
The green would be a mountain biking trail.
The rest should be labeled.

[metro]

Thanks for info Dennis. Nonetheless, I've still heard near Eastern Ave., and I hope that's the case. If we put it where highlighted, that basically leaves NO room for expansion for future boathouses on boathouse row. Sure, we've got all the major universities committed now, but it's reasonable to think more private institutions, Olympians, and elite clubs will want to eventually build.

[Reno and Walker]

I think the pull a part lot is ideal

[OKCisOK4me]

Not to mention that just to the east of the ramp to gain access to I-40 eastbound from the future boulevard, there will be a bridge going over I-40 to connect to Lincoln...

[Snowman]

Their is a good chance it is not going to discharge any water into the river/lake metro and if they build at that location it could not, the water would need to pool at the bottom then be pumped to the top. The exception being if the build at one of the dams and diverted the water around that which might be more inconsistent for operations. Even if this was done, only the one on eastern seems to have enough elevation change between the water being retained and the level it could be discharged at most of the year to attempt a course, and even that height difference may not be enough.

The most recent MAPS3 timeline also budgeted for land acquisition and since the previous neighborhood in the area of the boathouses has been acquired by someone, unless it was bought by ODOT which seems unlikely as their is still road access then the two leading candidates are the city and the boathouse foundation, either of which would not necessitate taking the several months budgeted to complete the acquisition process.

Does it look like they are planing to put ramps from Shields to sw 15th to anyone else?

[Kerry]

I for one hope we don't use up 30 to 50 acres near the urban core for a water rafting facility, especially waterfront land. I am think this is something that should go in the eastern part of town to take advantage of the natural terrain or maybe near Lake Draper. I also don't think a parking garage is going to be feasable since they would need a 12 foot clearance on the parking deck to make sure SUVs with kyaks on top can get in.

[metro]

Kerry, it's going to be on the Oklahoma River, the only question is where.

[BoulderSooner]

Kerry, it's going to be on the Oklahoma River, the only question is where.

yes it will .. but it won't actually be part of the river it will be a self contained system .. but designed to look like it is part of the river

[Kerry]

Kerry, it's going to be on the Oklahoma River, the only question is where.

Do you have a link that confirm that?

Never mind - I see it is included under the heading of Oklahoma River Improvements on the MAPS III site.

I just hate the site highlighted above because it doesn't allow for expansion of the boathouse area or the rafting attraction.