I-235 / I-44 Interchange

[hipsterdoofus]

I'd love to see more drone shots of this. Been a lot of changes since June. I've noticed the new blacktop going in as well.

[Pete]

I'd love to see more drone shots of this. Been a lot of changes since June. I've noticed the new blacktop going in as well.

I'll try and get over there this weekend.

[Mott]

If you notice, the tracks south of the bridge over I-44, kinda shift slightly to the west like they were expecting this expansion all along.

That shift occurred when the new bridge over 244 was built east of the old main line alignment.

[Mott]

I see where they laid some asphalt today north of 50th street. Looks to be placed directly on soil though so it's probably another temporary stretch of roadway.

The BNSF is now laying down asphalt to stabilize the graded soil before laying the tracks, ties and gravel. This keeps the graded clay soil from rising up and contaminating the gravel from the weight of the train traffic. I think there will be a new mainline and bridge built that will be cut in to the existing track, and no shoo fly will be needed.

[jn1780]

Asphalt is the first layer that gets put down and then a concrete surface is poured over that. I'm not sure if this is temporary asphalt though or the under layer of a permanent road. They will are going to start constructing a central pier to support the railroad bridge here soon and they have more piers to build for 50th street. Their might be several lane shifts while they build these piers.

[Pete]

[baralheia]

I passed through here last weekend after dark, coming back from having dinner in Edmond... I don't know who's idea it was to erect the solar streetlights in the work zone, but I really wish these were used more widely during construction on other projects. They are a really awesome idea and work quite well!

[Martin]

for the past several weeks i've been seeing the huge truss (in the first image, and the top right corner of the second image) and was wondering what it was for... is it meant to be moved into place as a temporary bridge for the railroad?

[baralheia]

for the past several weeks i've been seeing the huge truss (in the first image, and the top right corner of the second image) and was wondering what it was for... is it meant to be moved into place as a temporary bridge for the railroad?

Nope. That's part of the new permanent bridge. The idea is, instead of building a temporary shoofly, they will install the new bridge first, and then shift rail traffic to it permanently, allowing the old bridge to be demolished. The new bridge will be substantially longer than the old one when complete to allow for the wider road surface.

[jn1780]

https://youtu.be/eXEMQHuI9QY

I'm going to assume the bridge will be lifted the same way. They will just attach it to a trailer that pivots and drive it over and rotate it.

[turnpup]

There's some information about the bridge in the business section of today's newspaper.

[flyfisher07]

Asphalt is the first layer that gets put down and then a concrete surface is poured over that. I'm not sure if this is temporary asphalt though or the under layer of a permanent road. They will are going to start constructing a central pier to support the railroad bridge here soon and they have more piers to build for 50th street. Their might be several lane shifts while they build these piers.

My assumption is that it was temporary since I didn't see any ag base rock put underneath the asphalt. On the new pavement to the south of the railroad bridge they would put an ag base on top of the stabilized soil, then asphalt and then the concrete surface.

[Mott]

Thanks for the great pictures, and even has a BNSF grain train! Quite a project.

[flyfisher07]

They moved SB traffic over to the new pavement on the far west side of the road. Also see where a lot of the new steel for the second segment of the rail bridge has arrived. Anyone have an idea when they're going to start building the middle pier for the new rail bridge?

[jn1780]

They moved SB traffic over to the new pavement on the far west side of the road. Also see where a lot of the new steel for the second segment of the rail bridge has arrived. Anyone have an idea when they're going to start building the middle pier for the new rail bridge?

It doesn't look like they can keep two lanes of traffic in each direction open when they start building the middle pier since its so close to the existing bridge that is only wide enough for four lanes of traffic under normal conditions. Once they start, its going to be a nightmare so they probably want to make sure they have as much done related to the bridge before they start the central pier.

[ShadowStrings]

Are there plans to paint the bridge? It would be cool if we could let an artist do something. I think a sunrise color scheme on the north side (that people would see as they go to work) and a sunset color scheme on the south side (that people would see as they are leaving work) could be pretty cool. Does anyone else have any ideas or any insight as to what the current plans are?

[hipsterdoofus]

Is there any timeline anywhere on this project? I know there is a ton of work ongoing, but it would be nice, for example, to know in advance when they plan on moving lanes over and such. It does look like the northbound lanes may move over to some new temporary pavement soon north of the railroad bridge.

[Pete]

Is there any timeline anywhere on this project? I know there is a ton of work ongoing, but it would be nice, for example, to know in advance when they plan on moving lanes over and such. It does look like the northbound lanes may move over to some new temporary pavement soon north of the railroad bridge.

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https://www.ok.gov/odot/OFF_Broadway_and_I-235.html

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[jn1780]

They can finally start the central pier for the railroad bridge along with some of the piers for 50th street bridge and permanent center lanes. It will be awesome to see the bottleneck finally removed.

[hipsterdoofus]

They can finally start the central pier for the railroad bridge along with some of the piers for 50th street bridge and permanent center lanes. It will be awesome to see the bottleneck finally removed.

Came here to mention that the piers are being built if someone hadn't already. That northbound laneshift is wicked - especially not fun in the dark!

[jn1780]

New railroad bridge will be installed the weekend of January 19. I-235 expected to be closed for two full days. There will be a designated viewing area along with a live webcam to watch the bridge raising.

http://newsok.com/to-move-a-bridge-o...rticle/5578154

[LakeEffect]

New railroad bridge will be installed the weekend of January 19. I-235 expected to be closed for two full days. There will be a designated viewing area along with a live webcam to watch the bridge raising.

http://newsok.com/to-move-a-bridge-o...rticle/5578154

Contrast that to KFOR's piece on the story... ugh. http://kfor.com/2018/01/03/odot-proj...part-of-i-235/

[warreng88]

Contrast that to KFOR's piece on the story... ugh. http://kfor.com/2018/01/03/odot-proj...part-of-i-235/

This quote from the article made me laugh...

“To me, I avoid it at all costs because what's it been 20, 30 years now since they started the construction of it?” Morgan said.

Yep, they started the reconstruction of the I-235/I-44 back in 1998 or earlier...

[HangryHippo]

This quote from the article made me laugh...

“To me, I avoid it at all costs because what's it been 20, 30 years now since they started the construction of it?” Morgan said.

Yep, they started the reconstruction of the I-235/I-44 back in 1998 or earlier...

That made me laugh too. But in all seriousness, the amount of time it takes ODOT to complete projects ought to be illegal! It really is outrageous.

[OkieHornet]

This quote from the article made me laugh...

“To me, I avoid it at all costs because what's it been 20, 30 years now since they started the construction of it?” Morgan said.

Yep, they started the reconstruction of the I-235/I-44 back in 1998 or earlier...

Those quotes from that random guy sounded like they were straight from an Onion article.