Oklahoma City metro area definitely needs to tie its interstate system where its loops around the city. This will benefit eastern Oklahoma County where you could see a future boom in development with the inexpensive parcels of land in that area.
Oklahoma City metro area definitely needs to tie its interstate system where its loops around the city. This will benefit eastern Oklahoma County where you could see a future boom in development with the inexpensive parcels of land in that area.
I couldn't disagree more. There's a lot of rural area out there and some of the most untouched land in left in Oklahoma County.. By it's very nature, there's not a lot of infrastructure. And the folks out there like it that way. I lived in eastern Okla county for 10 years. Had personal circumstances not required me to move back in to town, I would still be living out there.
Why do people who don't live out there, and have little or nothing to do with that part of the county or anyone who lives there, think they know what's best for those who live out there?. Folks who live out there, or move out there do so because they want rural living. They don't want the "big city" out there. There's been talk of this loop for years, and we had a pretty good idea back then where the general route would be. Most folks didn't want it then, and they don't want it now.
Yep, internet - the same place you get to make your assumptions. I've had the misfortune of interacting with Gary on multiple occasions and the man is an idiot. Not to mention he used to be an asphalt lobbyist before being named the head of ODOT. And I've given numerous examples of other projects that would make more of a difference than this unnecessary expansion. Relief for the Dallas-Ft. Smith junction could have come from better design, not from an entirely new turnpike miles to the east.
I don't mean to be brash.
In Houston where I'm from, it's all concrete and for the most part, it's great (fewer potholes but more bumps). In Arizona where I was for a while, more asphalt, but without the wild weather hardly any potholes and super smooth asphalt roads.
Maybe Oklahoma just sucks for road building in general.
If there is no future plans to expand it to the north and south to tie into I-35 then this turnpike is dumb.
As for saving time driving from Dallas to Tulsa, use 75 and it will save you a whole bunch of time.
^You're kidding right? 30 miles?
I fail to see how a highway in that corridor will alleviate I-35 traffic. It would be one thing if it started as a branch directly off of I35 and looped all the way around the city and connected back with I35. But to connect I40 and I44 -- that far out, I just fail to see why. I would be mad if I lived over in eastern Okla county. There's a certain way of life folks look for when they move out there. They like the country living yet so close to civilization. That part of the county is unique in that respect. It's their neighborhood so I would let them decide if they wanted it. Now I would have a different take if I believed that it would serve the greater good in being a loop as I previously described.
I do believe it will eventually connect to a true beltway around OKC. I don't know how it couldn't.
I will say this- I don't like the way they handled the seminar. It wasn't very professional and they knew from the beginning that these people would throw a fit and they still screwed some things up. I like how they are proceeding with this and I do agree the best way for the people affected to have their input. This is getting built.
My concern about that corridor is the exact "future boom in development" that others in this thread are seeing as a positive. If it ends up as yet another highway surrounded by service roads, a few big box stores, and suburban development, that's going to do nothing but spread the city's maintenance costs ever more thinly.
Why doesn't ODOT and the Turnpike group get rid of the toll booths?? Go to the Texas model? Everyone pays either way. We then don't have to pay people to sit in a booth, therefore, saving money? Am I missing something?
Really saddened to see no updates to the Stillwater Spur/Cimarron Turnpike up north by me. The toll booths and areas are awful! You have to slow to 30 to go through. They're extremely narrow, especially for large trucks. Just sad to see expansion before we update our current facilities and tollways.
This is just a guess, but I'm betting on the north end to be in the area of the Hogback Road interchange.
I don't get his reasoning. Wouldn't John Kilpatrick Turnpike already provide a north south route and be hooked up with 35 much easier than building an entirely new road out in the middle of nowhere?
Also, people actually drive from Tulsa to Dallas through OKC? Seriously, Take 75 to Indian Nation to 69. Easy as pie.
I can't figure out what out of towners would actually benefit from this either.
- DFW-Tulsa, After you deal with I-35 to I-40, it'd be quicker and much shorter to go up on 235 or 35.
- Tulsa-DFW, Maybe, but it would be much longer and you'd still have to deal with the horrible I-40/I-35S interchange and the traffic on I-35S through Norman
- I-40W-Tulsa, Again, it would be shorter and quicker to go up Kilpatrick, I-44, 235 or 35
- Ft Smith-Wichita, You'd go through Tulsa.
I would love to see the traffic models for this and how it will relieve I-35 or I-235 at all. This will also be the 5th North-South Highway that is bound by I-40 on the south and the Turner/Kilpatrick on North. Only one goes farther North and only 2 go further South.
According to the traffic counts from ODOT, Sooner Road at 240 already has more traffic (16,900 cars a day and 32,300 at I-40) on it than they are predicting for this turnpike. I-35 at I-240 is running 10x the predicted amount, at 140,000 cars a day. Broadway in Edmond is at 52,400.
I am all for infrastructure getting built. I just don't see how this will benefit the metro compared to many other corridors that are very under served today. This will be the lowest traffic highway in OKC or Tulsa, and will not relieve the current highways in the metro.
Traffic Counts
Edit: I just looked up OTA's traffic counts. There is no way this turnpike will see anywhere near 15,000 cars a day any time soon. The OKC Terminus of the Turner is only pulling 28K a day and the Kilpatrick @ I-40 is only 21K/day.
This will have less traffic than the Creek in East BA, which is pulling 10K/day. Which is closer in and serves as a real bypass around Tulsa.
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