Reality?
Reality?
Progress as of July 28, 2011
From today (note there are now vehicles on the Aloft site):
Curious, is there anything planned for the NE and SW corners of 2nd & Oklahoma?
Now if someway, somehow they could extend Oklahoma Ave south through the parking lot to connect to Bricktown at Main..
Would there be an issue with railroad right of way there?
Yes. The planned HSR connection to Tulsa would use the Rock Island ROW. I think it will probably be raised, however.
BG918--the parking for the Aloft will go right up to Oklahoma I think, and there is nothing planned between Oklahoma and the Clark Bldg, also currently under renovation as you can see in the pic. OH the NE corner, yes, Level will be built-out to complete the entire block.
Precisely. There is a site plan somewhere around here I think..
edit:
http://www.levelokc.com/project
You've got the rail line there that would connect to the Adventure District. We have been hoping that Aloft will construct some stairs, but I don't know if they'll be allowed to. We call it the "Cliff Route" but most of us who live in the area use it as our access to Bricktown.
Oh, thanks! Yes, outdoor area on the westside & pool/outdoor area on the eastside.
From today... They are kicking butt!
I'm sure this has been answered so I apologize, but what part of the building is the grocery store going to be on? And is the area of dirt to the west of the parking structure also part of Level's development, and if so, are they building anything on top of it, or is just going to be street parking or landscaped open area?
The grocery store will be in the SE corner. If you look at post 412 you will see the west side will be similar to the east. They just poured the footings on the north side last week.
[QUOTE=BG918;455350]Curious, is there anything planned for the NE and SW corners of 2nd & Oklahoma?
Now if someway, somehow they could extend Oklahoma Ave south through the parking lot to connect to Bricktown at Main..
I agree. These neighborhoods should be better linked.
Businesses flourish when they are easy to get to.
Is there any movement to eventually have Oklahoma extended south from NE 2 to Main? It likely would have to be a bridge like Walnut so the abandoned tracks could be used again someday (possibly HSR to Tulsa). Oklahoma is already a main corridor through Bricktown and could be the same in Deep Deuce, especially since it connects to NE 10.
No movement that I know of. Might not be a bad idea, but man, activism only goes so far, and there are sooo many issues to take up right now that it's daunting if you think about it.
It's funny how these little issues, that are small in the greater context, become magnified once success becomes the expectation--with Deep Deuce really rolling and filling in right now, an issue like connecting Oklahoma comes up because you have to get around to dotting the i's and so forth. Small details make all the difference, too.
Obviously right now the residents can just walk through the wild savannah that separates Deep Deuce and Bricktown, even though it is unsightly to have between our two best districts, but in the future this WILL be the HSR corridor if it is going to happen at all. There is no other way to connect downtown to Tulsa unless you drop the hub down to the river or connect Edmond instead, and then require people to take commuter rail to get downtown.
I would think you would build the bridge so you don't limit your options in the future. As more things get built in Deep Deuce I think there will be more momentum to have another connection, in this case a bridge similar to the Walnut bridge, into Bricktown. Especially if Oklahoma ends up being the first at-grade intersection of the new boulevard from the east.
We are still a long way out from having any metro wide rail routes and that may not even be used in the earlier routes. Depending on how much surface & utility work is needed a road would cost a few hundred thousand to a several hundred thousand dollars for two blocks, a bridge that size is at least 10 million; this spent where in the short term may not have any train traffic under it until it needs repairs which could slow momentum as that money could have be put to encouraging developers to the area, plus a bridge tends to be less 'walkable' as far as peoples preferences vs being on the ground. It would not be hard to convert it to a bridge later it the rail volume becomes high enough if would be a hardship to crossing and the area keeps building densely since the money could then be funded by the downtown TIF district.
It's real simple, HSR is a long way away if it ever comes. However, that is indeed the corridor and no it HSR is not proposed to go through Edmond.
That corridor is important in the very near term as to provide potential commuter rail service to the NE side, special event trans to the Adventure District, and direct connection to Tinker AFB.
The trestle structure itself, while not all that aesthetically pleasing, is structurally sound and could theoretically be used with little improvement thus tying these lines to the NE and E to Santa Fe Station and the N/S rail corridor.
Regarding the pedestrian intersection at Oklahoma, it would probably be a normal grade crossing only for pedestrians. A street type crossing would require, signals, bells, and potentially having teh train blow its horn. So, my guess is taht residents would probably only want a pedestrian crossing.
Regarding HSR and how it affects this- HSR often uses standard commuter tracks and interacts with other trains when it is in the city. It is only when its leaves the city zone that many of them go into a grade separated and isolated track. There are extreme examples in new systems, but more than likely any HSR in OKC would interact and share local track until emerging outside of the city. At least this is how it is often done in Europe.
So the Deep Deuce Oklahoma Ave crossing is likely to not be all that unusual in any circumstance. The only unusual infrastructure might potential be a stop for the Tinker line or Adventure line thus enabling a dedicated connection for Tinker Commuters and an easy way to get to Santa Fe Station from the area.
"Aesthetically pleasing" is subjective. I think OKC is seriously lacking in physical connections to our past, and that one is pretty cool. Landscaping around and some up-lighting or lighting on the trestle structure itself could change the visual impact for (almost literally) pocket change. I'd personally rather see it highlighted than hidden or demolished.
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