I started this to break away from the off topic syndrome that has plagued the Mystery Tower thread, and I feel guilty for derailing it.

One comment was made saying OKC has no traffic issues and if you think that go to Bay Area, Houston, ATL, ect. That is absolutely correct. My thinking is in response to his other comment about Austin's traffic getting horrible and having outgrown their infrastructure years ago, I think it is smart for OKC to stay ahead of the curve so we don't get like that. A light-rail would do wonders, but I firmly believe the majority of people here will still choose cars over mass transit. Even with a light-rail we will still have traffic issues and we should start working on plans to widen I-35 now.

Adding just one lane won't do any good, but I'll say this again, in 3 years if we begin construction on this, we could also begin construction on a light-rail project. We could tie these two together and make the line from Norman to OKC the first phase. While doing this, you could make this highway 8 lanes with 2 HOV lanes and add an 4 lane elevated express tollway in the center of the highway with high speed limits and charge a fairly high amount that would likely pay for itself in 10-15 years(maybe less I haven't done the math). Anyhow, it's still a win win for everyone. Traffic problems would be solved for that area, likely for decades, and OKC would get its start to having a light-rail system.

It's understandable that some might argue that this is in no way needed right now, and that's true to an extent. I'm sure in 10 years, if we end up being as big as or bigger than Austin(currently), we will be glad we did that along time ago. I'm willing to bet the highway still won't need to be widened in that time. I think this would allow for at least 20 years, if not longer. If we do the construction right, its lifespan could easily be 50+ years.

Another thing we can do, is tear down some of these ugly buildings and mainly industrial warehouses and that scrapyard and move them and have them replaced by nice shiny 10-15 story office buildings in a few locations. Add a four lane service road, one way on each side, dual turn left turn lanes, right turn lane or we could construct round-a-bouts or those interchanges like what is being installed on Main St. along the highway. Also adding Texas turnarounds would be great too!

A large, beautifully landscaped highway with a light-rail running the Oklahoma River to somewhere in Norman would be a huge economic benefit and solve traffic worries for that area for a LOOOOONG time! The price tag is another thing. I still think it could be done.

To another point, I completely agree in the grand scheme of things, that at this point in time, OKC has an amazing highway network and nearly zero traffic issues. That will change though and it change even faster if we become a boom city like Dallas was(kind of still is) or Austin, Charlotte, and Nashville. So, to answer my own question, no OKC really doesn't have any major traffic issues. I think with better interchanges, like the high-five in Dallas, our traffic flow would be a million times better.

I still think a new 4 lane loop around Edmond would be nice, but other than that I can't think of any new highway that is needed(except for Norman, but I don't usually venture out there, so I can't really say whether or not one is needed out there).