More buffaloes on the way

[Easy180]

Good lord...Tourists and just people driving through are going to think we are just overrun with these things...All over bricktown and now our major highways

Let's get a little more modern designs going city officials...You are just enhancing our already hick image


More traffic cones and barrels are coming to the Broadway Extension in July when construction starts on the NW 36-Broadway Extension interchange, one of the major state projects for Oklahoma City.

Besides rebuilding the interchange, plans include building a wall to reduce traffic sounds in a nearby neighborhood, decorating the wall with art of buffaloes and relocating an Oklahoma City waterline.

Duit Construction, Inc., of Edmond is the contractor for the $34 million project, and has 439 calendar days to complete it.

The state Transportation Department will hold a meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. June 21 to discuss the project. The meeting will be at the First Christian Church Fellowship Hall, 3700 N Walker.

Two traffic lanes will be open in each direction on this portion of the Broadway Extension, which also is called Interstate 235, said Terri Angier, chief of public affairs for the state Transportation Department.

Also, the contractor will relocate an Oklahoma City waterline that will cause NW 36 under the Broadway Extension to be closed for up to 90 days, Angier said.

The contractor will construct a sound barrier wall north of NW 36 for about one-half a mile, Angier said.

A sound barrier wall already exists south of NW 36.

An additional wall that will not reduce traffic sounds will be built from the south end of the south wall to near NW 23, Angier said.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Normally I would be adamant about no more buffalos, but this might not be that bad. Normally those sound walls are just bare expanses of unattractive concrete. I suspect this artwork will be a much more abstract, low-relief type of artwork.

[Tim]

Well! Looks like one little cowpoke woke up on the wrong side of the bunkhouse today!

[Easy180]

I'm just saying maybe something more along the lines of what Dallas did with their highway walls instead of more agriculture themes

This little piece of wall isn't going to ruin my day, but it's just another piece to keep that banjo music strumming in the out of towners heads as they pass through

[PUGalicious]

Easy, I would generally agree with you. I hate those buffalo eyesores around the metro. But I have to go along with CuatrodeMayo's sentiments on this particular matter.

[Tim]

OMG! Another buffalo hater! I bet you kick puppies too.

[PUGalicious]

I love my puppies, thank you. I just think those Buffalo thingies are GAWD-awful and look like nothing more than bad lawn ornaments.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Maybe something kinda like this, but a little more abstract (like getting rid of the junk on the first buffalo).

[Karried]

LOL... buffalo junk...omg! sheesh, what a nice thing to wake up to this morning!

[Tim]

I love my puppies, thank you. I just think those Buffalo thingies are GAWD-awful and look like nothing more than bad lawn ornaments.

How 'bout some garden gnomes?

[metro]

Yeah, I don't think it's near as bad as it sounds. Heck, at least ODOT is finally getting their act together and realizing we need public art along major roadways, etc. If anything, it will enhance our city's image!! That stretch of land is ugly and seriously out of date for the traffic it has. The buffalo statues are a hit with out of towners, and I've talked to plenty from both coasts, and they don't think it's hickish, neither should we. They only make their impressions from the locals. We can choose what we want them to perceive. If we think they are "hickish" and go around talking about it all the time, then they are going to agree with us. If we talk about how we are open to the arts, etc. Then they think we are more arts oriented, and open to the arts. We've talked about it before, Chicago, Dallas, lA, NYC and other "major" us cities have done similar "hickish" campaigns with cows, penguins, and other such animals.

[PUGalicious]

How 'bout some garden gnomes?

It wouldn't look much worse.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Around town they're OK. But the buffalo corral? That horrible.

[PUGalicious]

I think I'm gonna be sick...

[soonerliberal]

My only question is: Will O-DOT keep up these murals in ten years time once the paint starts wearing out?

[jbrown84]

I despise the fiberglass buffalo all over town, but I like the sound of this. I've always wondered why we can't be a little less ugly with these sound walls.

Although I think the EAST side of 235 north of 23rd is in much more need of hiding.

[jbrown84]

My only question is: Will O-DOT keep up these murals in ten years time once the paint starts wearing out?

I don't think it's a mural. Sounds to me like a relief sculpture as Cuatro said.

[kmf563]

Who is behind the push for the bison everywhere??? I personally think they are tacky and agree they set up a wrong image of our state. Why does everything have to be about the bison? There are plenty of things they could put on that wall. How about just a big native american mural?

[PUGalicious]

I despise the fiberglass buffalo all over town...

I personally think they are tacky

Ahhhh... I no longer feel so alone...

[Tim]

Hmmm...is it possible that your idea of beauty may be skewed?

[PUGalicious]

Who?

[Tim]

You know I love ya Pugs! All jokes aside, I really do like the buffalo, and it's hard for me to think of a more appropriate representation of the natural grandeur of our State. Scissortails are neat too, but they make for tiny little sculptures.

[kmf563]

Why don't we just save the money and let cier take care of it for us? He's probably going to tag over it anyway. I'm not trying to be petty...sure it's a nice thought, but don't we have better things to spend money on? Like all the streets that have potholes in them or the I-40 bridge? And are we going to decorate the sound walls that are up already?

And if thinking the painted buffs are tacky makes my opinion of beauty skewed...then long live the skewness because those things are just as ugly as can be.

[PUGalicious]

You know I love ya Pugs! All jokes aside, I really do like the buffalo, and it's hard for me to think of a more appropriate representation of the natural grandeur of our State. Scissortails are neat too, but they make for tiny little sculptures.

It's not that I don't like bison. I actually really like bison and I agree that they are an excellent representation of Oklahoma's natural grandeur. I don't like the kitschy lawn ornament representations of the bison. If they were sculptures like the real sculptures (land run) in Bricktown, I'd be enthusiastically supporting them.

[Tim]

KMF, I was poking fun at Pugs fascination with a certain dog species. Pugs, good point. If you want to see the epitome of goofy public art, take a gander at the frog statue outside the City First bld in Edmond!