I-235 / I-44 Interchange

[SSEiYah]

When is this going to be redone? It is a nasty interchange with how busy I-235 is.

It looks like the railroad/vehicle bridges to the south will need to be rebuilt to allow for additional lanes, however I do not see any sign of that being done. To the north is perfect, to the south is good...it is like they forgot to redo that one area.

Does anyone know when this expansion is planned? Completion Date?

[jonno]

It will be done over several phases and take 8+ years. The ramp from Southbound Broadway extension to westbound I-44 is scheduled to start in the next month. Those good areas to the north and south you spoke of were earlier phases of the same project. The whole interchange is complicated because of the presence of multiple utilities, the Deep Fork Creek and a tributary winding through the project site and the railroad. I'll look later and try and post the phases listed in ODOT's 8 year work plan here in this thread.

P.S. Merry Christmas OKC

[warreng88]

Here is a thread I posted almost a year ago about it:

http://www.okctalk.com/showthread.ph...&daysprune=365

[warreng88]

2 highway construction projects begin in OKC area in 2011

The Oklahoma Transportation Department says major Oklahoma City area highway construction projects will cause commuters to see more bottlenecking of traffic in north Oklahoma City and backed-up tractor-trailer rigs in the western metro area.

BY JOHN ESTUS jestus@opubco.com
Published: December 29, 2010
It could be another decade before daily traffic gridlock at one of Oklahoma City's busiest highway interchanges gets any better.

A rebuilding project at the Interstate 235 and Interstate 44 interchange in north Oklahoma City that begins next year could potentially last up to 10 years because much of it remains unfunded, state Transportation Department officials said Tuesday.

“We're looking at ways of speeding that up,” state Transportation Department Director Gary Ridley said.
Either way, Oklahoma City metro-area commuters are sure to spend more time hung up in highway traffic in 2011 because of that project and another major highway project beginning next year.

In the second half of 2011, the Transportation Department will begin the first phase of the $150 million rebuild of the deteriorating I-235 and I-44 interchange.

Ridley said the project, which will require several phases, is a priority because traffic problems continue to worsen at the interchange.

Bidding for the $24.8 million first phase of the interchange rebuild will begin early next year, and construction should be under way in the summer, department spokeswoman Brenda Perry said.

The ramp linking Broadway Extension southbound with I-44 westbound will close temporarily, and lanes on westbound I-44 temporarily will be reduced from three to two.

Other temporary road closures as a result of the project will be the access road linking I-44 with Western Avenue, the ramp linking NW 63 with Broadway Extension and parts of Grand Boulevard.

Once complete, the new interchange will be able to comfortably handle up to 170,000 vehicles a day.

That's a far cry from the typical day today, which sees at least 140,000 vehicles pass through the interchange — nearly double what it was designed to handle when it was built, the Transportation Department said.

The east and west lanes of I-44 at the interchange were rebuilt in the 1970s, and the north-south lanes of I-235 and Broadway Extension haven't seen many improvements since they were first built in the 1950s, according to the department.

As a result, rush-hour traffic almost always slows to a crawl at the interchange as the multilane Broadway Extension southbound and I-235 northbound bottleneck into fewer lanes at the interchange. The interchange work will worsen that problem.

Read the rest of the article:
http://newsok.com/2-highway-construc...#ixzz19VazOKbx

[semisimple]

Here's a rendering of the new interchange. Two ramps will be upgraded to flyovers but still two ****ty cloverleaf ramps for access to/from I-235 southbound. Still, this is a great improvement.

http://www.capitolbeatok.com/_webapp...Extension_ramp

[MustangGT]

Leaving the two "cloverleaf" ramps is ignorant. With what the project is going to ultimatly cost a redisgn to eliminate them should not be that much more. Typical OK road design penny wise and pound foolish. By the time it is finished I wonder how long before it reaches maximum capacity. Try again OK DOT.

[SSEiYah]

Did someone say 10 years?

Locate low interest credit card, hire 500-1000 workers, work around the clock building the entire project at once (not stages) and be done in a couple months. ODOT likes to poor one bridge pillar a time onsite, stand around and wait for it to set, then wait again for more money for the next pillar..then pour that pilar. The repeat.

Pay for it later by charging each driver...raise tag fees 30%. Issue Resolved.

[Richard at Remax]

Exactly. I am usually not for financing but they should get a decent loan, pay it off over time, and get this thing done instead of waiting till we have all cash in hand. 10 years for that interchange is unacceptable.

[hipsterdoofus]

Yeah leaving that cloverleaf is ridiculous - that's the entire problem with that intersection. How pointless.

[CuatrodeMayo]

The cloverleaves are not being "left" just rebuilt. Also, they will connect into a dedicated ramp, not the main flow of traffic like they are now.

[hipsterdoofus]

The cloverleaves are not being "left" just rebuilt. Also, they will connect into a dedicated ramp, not the main flow of traffic like they are now.

My bad - I see what you mean - they don't connect right in to 235 there....I still hate cloverleafs...

[MustangGT]

The cloverleaves are not being "left" just rebuilt. Also, they will connect into a dedicated ramp, not the main flow of traffic like they are now.

I had noticed the setup but it does not alter the basic premise that cloverleafs HAVE NO place in modern traffic operations.

[SkyWestOKC]

Cloverleafs are very inefficient, you reduce traffic to 35 mph, then have them merge on to a flow of traffic trying to exit at 70 mph. Merging a slow stream with a fast stream, with one stream trying to complete a turn while merging. There is a reason you see so many wrecks at them.

[jn1780]

I guess the I-240/I-35 interchange will take at least 20 years.

[SoonerDave]

I guess the I-240/I-35 interchange will take at least 20 years.

Sad to say, but the ugly truth is that its on the wrong side of town to get any kind of attention like the one up north is getting. People are in wrecks, being hurt, and lives are being tossed around on nearly a daily basis at the I-240/I-35 interchange, but it gets pushed farther and farther back, perhaps now in favor of a rebuild to an interchange that was new construction not even, what, ten-fifteen years ago? And how old is I-240?

[Snowman]

Sad to say, but the ugly truth is that its on the wrong side of town to get any kind of attention like the one up north is getting. People are in wrecks, being hurt, and lives are being tossed around on nearly a daily basis at the I-240/I-35 interchange, but it gets pushed farther and farther back, perhaps now in favor of a rebuild to an interchange that was new construction not even, what, ten-fifteen years ago? And how old is I-240?

The interchanges are both roughly 50/60 years old, the i44/i235 interchange is the last section being done in the renovation of i235/Broadway Extension. They both need work, among other areas.

[SoonerDave]

The interchanges are both roughly 50/60 years old, the i44/i235 interchange is the last section being done in the renovation of i235/Broadway Extension. They both need work, among other areas.

How can anything with I-235 be 50-60 years old? Was not finally finished back in '89, which would make it closer to 23 years old? The I-240 interchange has been a nightmare a lot longer than that.

[kevinpate]

Get your point, but driving where one is allowed to drive, at a speed that is posted, isn't being a vigilante.
Conversely, ignoring merge signs and trying to race ahead of 20-60 cars already qued up in a required merge, or worse, trying to pass that same 20-60 cars by roaring down a road shoulder is a display of stupidity and greed.

Saying no, not today and blocking the way is not inappropriate on the roadway. Now, swerving at someone at the last minute, yeah, that would be dumb and not likely to end well on several levels.

[David]

Get your point, but driving where one is allowed to drive, at a speed that is posted, isn't being a vigilante.
Conversely, ignoring merge signs and trying to race ahead of 20-60 cars already qued up in a required merge, or worse, trying to pass that same 20-60 cars by roaring down a road shoulder is a display of stupidity and greed.

Saying no, not today and blocking the way is not inappropriate on the roadway. Now, swerving at someone at the last minute, yeah, that would be dumb and not likely to end well on several levels.

Yeah, right up until you make the guy so angry that he intentionally has an accident with you or follows you home to pick a fight in person. You really are better off leaving it to the cops.

[Mesta Parker]

You get what you pay for. Until the public is willing to step up to the plate and provide more funds, ODOT's primary design criteria will continue to be minimizing cost rather than minimizing traffic disruption and there will continue to be terrible road design and long construction periods.

[hipsterdoofus]

You get what you pay for. Until the public is willing to step up to the plate and provide more funds, ODOT's primary design criteria will continue to be minimizing cost rather than minimizing traffic disruption and there will continue to be terrible road design and long construction periods.

Not sure that is as much as the problem as the fact that we are a donor state - the feds take our money and give it to other states for roads and such.

[Larry OKC]

Not sure that is as much as the problem as the fact that we are a donor state - the feds take our money and give it to other states for roads and such.

This used to be true, but recall reading that within the past couple of years, we have finally turned the corner on that...course we will probably never get back all of the money that has been "donated" over the decades.

[okcpulse]

You get what you pay for. Until the public is willing to step up to the plate and provide more funds, ODOT's primary design criteria will continue to be minimizing cost rather than minimizing traffic disruption and there will continue to be terrible road design and long construction periods.

It isn't terrible road design. The two clover leaf ramps that are being reconstructed as clover leaf ramps carry much lower traffic volumes going from southbound Broadway Ext. to eastbound I-44 and from westbound I-44 to southbound I-235. Thus, the flyover ramps are for the higher traffic volumes going from downtown to NW OKC and from Edmond to NW OKC. However, I agree about the timespan.

Funding is one problem, but funding methods are another. ODOT is forced to be a pay as you go agency because the state is barred constitutionally from borrowing money to fund road construction. There was some flack about the money used to fund the expansion of Broadway Extension. Ultimately the courts ruled that GARVEE bonds cannot be used to fund road projects. That is why Broadway only took two years to widen.

TxDOT borrows to bridge funding gaps, but the debt load is mounting - according to the Houston Chronicle.

[OKCTalker]

Funding is one problem, but funding methods are another. ODOT is forced to be a pay as you go agency because the state is barred constitutionally from borrowing money to fund road construction.

This isn't a problem with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority - when they identify a need and have the funds, the pull the trigger and get the job done all at once, not piecemeal like this.

[okcpulse]

This isn't a problem with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority - when they identify a need and have the funds, the pull the trigger and get the job done all at once, not piecemeal like this.

Right, but the sole function of OTA is to finance construction and maintenance via bonds. They were created for that purpose. They have a revenue source independent from the state which are the tolls collected. Thus, they are exempt from the requirements attached to tax collections. No toll revenue is used to maintain state and federal roads.