I-235 / I-44 Interchange

[jn1780]

Their already digging away at the approaches and drilling on the east side to finish the retaining wall. So the bridge being there isn't stopping progress.

[Pete]

This was an update ODOT gave to City Council in October 2016.

[catch22]

That is because of ODOT budget cuts, correct?

I believe the actual construction is on-schedule according to the contract?

[OkiePoke]

Were those dates completion dates? Start, award?

[Pete]

Sorry, looks like those are start dates. They didn't bother to include end dates.

[jn1780]

The latest diagram has the start dates removed so I don't see them starting the next phase this year.

[jn1780]

That is because of ODOT budget cuts, correct?

I believe the actual construction is on-schedule according to the contract?

Probably head of schedule according to the contract since they give out incentives to finish early.

[GreenSooner]

It doesn't really seem like that much of an opportunity was lost making not making the railroad bridge double track. The truss bridge would have to be designed to carry two trains at one time which would certainly increase the cost. Looking at the alignment it wouldn't be that hard to building an identical truss bridge just to the south of the existing one. There is more redundancy keeping two tracks separate. It may actually be cheaper too not having to engineer one single bridge to carry two trains.

The second problem I see is that they had to build the first pair of bridges north of 50th Street and drag them south into position. Now that 50th Street is back in place, that option isn't open.

There should be enough room over the highway to install a second truss bridge, unless the median is drastically, i.e., deliberately narrowed down southwest of the new span such that there isn't room for the support.

The first problem is ODOT, which thinks of themselves as OK Department of Highways, aka ODOH, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Asphalt Pavers, and Repavers, and Repavers Association. I don't trust them for a minute to have designed this to allow for future transit needs. However, given the political will, if we lived without 50th Street for this long for the improved highway, we can tear it down again to bring in a new pair of railroad bridges.

We would need some serious political will anyway to get BNSF to even come to the table to discuss commuter rail along their right-of-way between downtown Edmond and Brooks Street in Norman. It would require adding a track everywhere along that route.

[jn1780]

The second problem I see is that they had to build the first pair of bridges north of 50th Street and drag them south into position. Now that 50th Street is back in place, that option isn't open.

There should be enough room over the highway to install a second truss bridge, unless the median is drastically, i.e., deliberately narrowed down southwest of the new span such that there isn't room for the support.

The first problem is ODOT, which thinks of themselves as OK Department of Highways, aka ODOH, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Asphalt Pavers, and Repavers, and Repavers Association. I don't trust them for a minute to have designed this to allow for future transit needs. However, given the political will, if we lived without 50th Street for this long for the improved highway, we can tear it down again to bring in a new pair of railroad bridges.

We would need some serious political will anyway to get BNSF to even come to the table to discuss commuter rail along their right-of-way between downtown Edmond and Brooks Street in Norman. It would require adding a track everywhere along that route.

Not having the staging area isn't really a problem at all if there was money and political will power to build a second bridge. There is no need to tear down 50th street bridge again to make it happen. I'm pretty sure there is room to build at least one span at a time on the southeast side. Even if there wasn't they can make more room to build a temporary pad by narrowing lanes down on the newly completed road. Removing the bottleneck from the old bridge gives engineers a lot more options when it comes to diverting lanes.

BNSF and political will to build commuter rail are the biggest hurdles to overcome. There are several bridges that need to be replaced and more track would need to be laid. And this is after we can prove that the streetcar is a success.

[catch22]

As the city grows I believe the political willpower will manifest itself in the long term. Traffic is only going to get worse as the city grows and at some point will be a quality of life issue that the city (or future RTA) will be forced to spearhead.

These current interchanges being constructed are bringing OKC's vehicular capacity to where it should have been 10 years ago. I think eventually ODOT will be forced to diversify their projects as pressure will mount from OKC that a "roads only" approach is no longer working or takes too long with minimal improvement.

[pw405]

Hey who knows, maybe by the time this project is finished Elon's Boring Company will have their machines up and running (for cheap!) and let us tunnel from the OKC Underground to the Edmond/Norman/MWC/Yukon and BNSF won't be a factor.

Hahha... I know, wishful thinking.

...By the time this is ACTUALLY finished, we'll have flying cars and highways will be obsolete and flying car users will laugh at the irony of calling automobile bridges "fly-overs". That seems more likely.

[Of Sound Mind]

Last closure of I-235 will be this weekend.

https://www.ok.gov/triton/modules/ne...ticle_id=41900

The I-235 Off-Broadway project in Oklahoma City will close for a fourth full weekend April 6-9 to remove the old BNSF railroad bridge from over the interstate. This is expected to be the final full closure allowed within the $88 million contract, however, nearly a year’s worth of construction work will remain when I-235 reopens April 9.
I-235 will be closed between N. 36^th St. and I-44. The closure will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, April 6, after the evening rush-hour and the interstate is expected to reopen no later than 6 a.m. Monday, April 9.
Motorists also can expect the following ramp closures:

• Eastbound I-44 to southbound I-235;
• Westbound I-44 to southbound I-235; and
• Northbound I-235 on-ramp from N. 36^th St.

The contractor plans to remove the 50-year-old railroad bridge using two large cranes. Crews will pull apart the 277-foot-long structure in pieces and move them to a temporary location. Removing this structure opens up the needed space to expand the interstate to six lanes.
There will not be a public viewing area for this phase of the work due to numerous other construction activities taking place on the N. 50^th St. bridge and elsewhere within the work zone. However, the bridge demolition may be viewed on a live stream video feed at www.i235live.com throughout the weekend or follow @OKDOT on Twitter and Facebook for updates.
Motorists can expect a significant traffic shift when the work zone reopens April 9. Southbound lanes will be moved toward the center on temporary pavement so that crews can work on adding the new southbound lanes. There are no changes expected for the northbound lane configuration at this time.

[jn1780]

Old bridge is gone. Their working on removing the piers and approaches now.

[catch22]

It was hard to comprehend how large that new bridge span was until they recently started moving all of the dirt around the old bridge piers leading up to this weekend.

It also looks like they have the center area paved with temporary asphalt, so it looks like they may be ready to shift one of the directions over to the center to work on the concrete for the permanent widened lanes under the bridge.

[Of Sound Mind]

https://www.ok.gov/triton/modules/ne...ticle_id=41900

Motorists can expect a significant traffic shift when the work zone reopens April 9. Southbound lanes will be moved toward the center on temporary pavement so that crews can work on adding the new southbound lanes. There are no changes expected for the northbound lane configuration at this time.

...

[Pete]

Took these this morning.

[Of Sound Mind]

Both directions opened up about mid-afternoon today. Southbound definitely shifted to the left, taking out that death curve finally.

[catch22]

...

Missed your post!

[Laramie]

Growing pains; this project was long overdue...

[Pete]

Took this Sunday. Looks like the 50th Street bridge is almost complete as is the southbound entrance from 50th to I-235.

[hipsterdoofus]

Is there no longer going to be an exit to 50th from Sbound 235? Seems like I remember hearing that originally but had forgotten. That's going to be a pain.

[OKCisOK4me]

Is there no longer going to be an exit to 50th from Sbound 235? Seems like I remember hearing that originally but had forgotten. That's going to be a pain.

Other than neighborhoods (which you can access from Western via I-44) and industrial (which you can access from Lincoln or NW 36th St.), I don't see the issue.

[Johnb911]

Is there no longer going to be an exit to 50th from Sbound 235? Seems like I remember hearing that originally but had forgotten. That's going to be a pain.

Post #852 shows an exit from southbound 235 going under 50th street and then curving back north and exiting onto 50th and Santa Fe a little bit west of the bridge (green off ramp, orange loop)

[gopokes88]

Is there no longer going to be an exit to 50th from Sbound 235? Seems like I remember hearing that originally but had forgotten. That's going to be a pain.

I know the fed standard is no exits/entrances 1 mile from interchanges as it leads to more congestion. I dk if they followed that or not though.

[Pete]

Yes, ultimately as you travel north on I-235 you can exit to 50th but you actually go under the 50th bridge then cloverleaf around back to the south to get to 50th.