Oklahoma River Development

[kevinpate]

Gets one to thinking, as we only renamed a few mile stretch of the North Canadian, I wonder why they didn't just rename that little stretch of water the Oklahoma City river ... was the sign too small for the extra letters or what?

[jbrown84]

Maybe we should take the name from the Red River and change from Oklahoma River to Red River.

The Red River is red all the time.

[mmonroe]

Imagine that.

[BG918]

Anyone know if there is any plan in place to extend the "lake" created by the dams in the Oklahoma River? Further east to NE 23rd? That is definitely a more scenic area, and the river could be twice as wide there. I would keep a boat in there if it was navigable from Meridian to Sooner Rd...

[mmonroe]

Sooner Road... yes, why does the river stop pretty much a little ways after Easter/MLK as far as water levels go? Too industrial? There is a lot of potential land opportunities and open space there... would help out the eastern side for sure, and help with Indian Museum....

[CuatrodeMayo]

I have thought about the same thing myself and I did a sketch awhile back. Why not connect Eagle Lake in Del City with the River to make a larger portion of the river that could be used for other water events, like wakeboarding, skiiing, etc. competions?



NOTE: the lake is the current width of the Oklahoma River in the bottom left corner.

[jbrown84]

Sooner Road... yes, why does the river stop pretty much a little ways after Easter/MLK as far as water levels go? Too industrial? There is a lot of potential land opportunities and open space there... would help out the eastern side for sure, and help with Indian Museum....

The water is still dammed up at the American Indian Cultural Center site.

I like Cuatro's plan. Did you submit that for Maps 3?

[CuatrodeMayo]

Yes.

[BG918]

Great plan! I like the idea of connecting the river to the existing lake in Del City creating a much larger "lake" with boating, water skiing, and wakeboarding possibilities. I would move the dam a little closer to NE 23rd though to take advantage of that space where the flood plain is wide enough, maybe even reroute NE 23rd over the dam? I like the idea of making NE 10th a signature bridge, that and NE 4th would be good connections to downtown. It would be a very visible "natural" feature that people would see on both I-40 and I-35. It would be nice to see the jogging/biking trails extended to this area as well.

I want to see it happen, this SHOULD be part of the Oklahoma River master plan!

[Saberman]

Del City could also get rid of the ugly industrial area along Reno between the river and Sunnylane.

Trails could also connect, with exist and new OKC trails, to Del City parks and even MWC. Lake Hefner to MWC to Draper to Thunderbird to Norman, the possibilities are endless.

[mmonroe]

I love you guys, lol.

I love the idea CuatrodeMayo. Anything we can do to help back this idea, or at least show there are more people interested in it other than just you. I would like to back it to.

[Nawfside OKC]

I love you guys, lol.

I love the idea CuatrodeMayo. Anything we can do to help back this idea, or at least show there are more people interested in it other than just you. I would like to back it to.

me too. I never thought of that Cuatrode .Very nice idea,maybe even a little small stretch of it could have sand.

[BG918]

Del City could also get rid of the ugly industrial area along Reno between the river and Sunnylane.

Trails could also connect, with exist and new OKC trails, to Del City parks and even MWC. Lake Hefner to MWC to Draper to Thunderbird to Norman, the possibilities are endless.

I know there is eventually plans to extend the jogging/biking trail in Norman (Legacy Trail) north from where it ends at Robinson up to I believe Tecumseh or Indian Hills Rd. along the tracks. It would be cool to see Moore get involved and then connect to the trail on their part of the tracks, and then see OKC do the same finally connecting this trail to the great system we now have along the banks of the Okla. River, and then eventually further east. That would be an awesome network of trails and really set OKC apart.

[kevinpate]

could make for some interesting times indeed. Nice idea CuatrodeMayo.

[sroberts24]

this is a lil off the current topic but i was driving by the boat house the other day looking at the I-40 progress and the boat hows and what not, i wasn't sure when the new boat houses are to begin being built and where exactly.... there is some construction going on just east of the ches. boat house not sure if that is just dirt being moved for I-40 for some reason or if its maybe boathouse work.....

anybody know anything about this?

[kevinpate]

the relocation of I-40 passes to the north of the CP boathouse, in between it and the south end of the BT canal.

[sroberts24]

i knnow where I-40 goes i was wondering where exactly the boathouses were goin and if they had started or plan on starting anytime soon

[Watson410]

The OCU boathouse is going just east of the CBH, on the other side of Lincoln. I think i read something about them starting construction this fall, don't hold me to that though.

[dalelakin]

i knnow where I-40 goes i was wondering where exactly the boathouses were goin and if they had started or plan on starting anytime soon

Pete found some great info clik here

[JLCinOKC]

Devon Energy to help fund boathouse for OCU | NewsOK.com

By The Associated Press

Devon Energy Corp. has pledged $5 million to complete the construction of a boathouse on the Oklahoma River that will house Oklahoma City University's rowing teams.

The Devon Boathouse will join the Chesapeake Boathouse and planned boathouses for the University of Oklahoma and the University of Central Oklahoma along the river near downtown Oklahoma City.

The $10 million Devon Boathouse should be completed by the fall of 2009. It will include a training center, indoor seating with views of the regatta finish line and an outdoor performing arts area. OCU's varsity rowing and sculling programs also will store its boats there.

OCU has hosted the Head of the Oklahoma Regatta in recent years and the river has developed into a top regatta venue.

[Pete]

I love how Devon & CHK seem to be trying to one-up each other not only in boathouses, but in corporate HQ's and civic boosterism.

$10 million is more than twice what CHK's cost.

[mmonroe]

I love the friendly competition. Makes OKC look good when you have corps footing bills on projects and not costing us a dime.

[metro]

Pete, funny you mention that, I had an interesting conversation with "some influential people" that Devon tries hard to one up Chesapeake when it comes to downtown/river. Chesapeake even though suburban, got a several years headstart when it comes to the river development. Devon fought back with sponsoring the river taxis and now this OCU boathouse. Glad to see them battling it out while the oil economy is good. Keep it coming, my prediction is that this won't be the last major sponsorship with downtown/river development we'll see from them.

[warreng88]

It's funny, I heard about this on Saturday but the person I got the info told me not to say anything. i think it is great how things are developing down there and I hope there are a couple of more Oklahoma companies that will sponsor the UCO and OU boathouses (Sonic boathouse anyone?)

[John]

So we'll have the Chesapeake (General Purpose) Boathouse, Devon (OCU) Boathouse, Aubrey McClendon (OU) Boathouse, what's next? The Larry Nichols (UCO) Boathouse?