The New I-40 (Construction Updates)

[jn1780]

Thanks for your responses, they do give me some hope. I was wondering about the quoted section above though... do you know when the Blvd is scheduled to be complete/open? Also, I am curious who is putting up the money for it... is it the state? Honestly our state government worries me. So often they just bail on their commitments that I hope if they're involved we really get the money to complete the thing. If it's the city I would feel pretty good about that.

2 years before being fully completed. Its mostly ODOT funded with maybe a little bit of money from the city.

[mcca7596]

You know, I have driven it a few times and I don't remember ever seeing it. So maybe not. I will try to remember to watch more closely next time and let you know.

Thanks! I was afraid my question was going to get lost on the last page and I didn't want to re-ask it in case people just didn't want to answer. lol

[ljbab728]

I think everyone agrees traffic has improved and the area along the old I-40 will improve. Just imagine how much better it would have been if 50% of the traffic was routed around the city.

I have better idea. Let's just move all of the freeways out of Oklahoma. We could route all of that pesky traffic to Texas and Kansas so we wouldn't be bothered by all of those people who might want to annoy us by spending their money here.

[Thunder]

Okay, guys, c'mon, some people may be frustrated, but get real here. The entire project has not even complete yet. Interstate highways should always have the least amount of entrance and exit ramps possible to prevent the chance of an accident. The more ramps there are, the greater the risk factor, because there will be people trying to enter and exit, merging, changing lanes, and rush hours make it worse. The main goal is to maintain speed and keep it all going. When the westbound is completed, it will open, and then the old I-40 will be torn down. After that, the Boulevard will be built and open for the purpose of multiple access to the streets. I believe the Boulevard will have multiple lanes and maintain a decent speed with state of the art traffic lights to be all timed together. The Boulevard will be a vital access route in and out of Downtown. That is the one that will complete your overall destination. Don't worry about what the new I-40 has to offer. When its all completed, you will finally understand and be very pleased with smoothness and enhanced safety. Simmer down, now.

[catch22]

I don't think I have ever seen a Thunder post like that before...well done.

I was expecting to see something about a zombie apocalypse....

[MDot]

Wow... Thunder just stepped up to home plate and hit a grand slam in the bottom of the 9th. I feel like my son just graduated college. =,)

[mrktguy29]

I've driven it twice now, both times were at night and I feel its turning Oklahoma drivers into Dallas drivers. I will admit, I'll go 5-10 over but I was being passed at 7 over and they had some speed... Was more than just 1 car also. It does feel 'big city' to me, maybe its just the 'new' I can't want to see it during the day and look forward to seeing the Skydance lit up. Both times were to drive through and I was impressed overall, feels like downtown just passes by so much fast because of it.

[ljbab728]

http://newsok.com/challenges-and-opp...rticle/3638935

[Thunder]

One downside, feared from the moment the route was chosen, is that it severely cuts access to downtown. The old eastbound I-40 had exits at Western, Walker and Harvey avenues that funneled directly into the central business district.

I disagree. Everything is under construction for at least 2 to 3 more years, so deal with that for the time being. Afterward, access will be greatly improved. Western exit is still there. Shields exit is a great addition. Who cares about Walker... I can't remember what order Harvey is at. Anyway, as I said in the earlier post, the important priority is to ensure I-40 laid out in the most safe way possible. According to people's reports, there are double left-turn lanes, so that is better than previous one left-turn lane. Then its a quick access onto the new Blvd where people will still have the same access points along the way. Trust me, Steve, you'll see when the time comes. :-)

In the meantime, however, eastbound travelers have quite the detour into downtown, and destinations including the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Bricktown and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art have the challenge of ensuring interstate drivers still manage to leave the highway to include these tourism spots to their travel plans.

A challenge for now, maybe for some, but when the Blvd is done...no challenge. Exit on Western...exit on Shields...pick an exit, then quickly go onto the new Blvd and easily find the street where any one of those attractions reside within. I am sure there will be signage properly erected along the Blvd directing drivers with nice arrows. :-)

The design of the roadway, bridges and retaining wall is almost complimentary to the city, though it also loses much of the dramatic skyline view that was provided by the former alignment. But when the eastbound lanes are at ground level, the earliest views are of the Oklahoma River. It's a good view — one that presents the river in its best light.

The safety of drivers is most important than elaborate views of what OKC has to offer. Sure, its nice to be attractive, but the drivers' main priority on the road is to maintain their attention on the road and surrounding traffic. No time for scenery thrills. People can enjoy the scenes outside of their vehicles. :-)

What's lost on this drive are the up-close views of the Chesapeake Energy Arena and most of Bricktown.

It is not a loss. Currently on the old I-40, the view of the Thunderdome are only the upper half with the "ooooo, ahhh, awwww" lighting. I haven't driven on it during the day...yet, but I'm sure that the view of the arena will be improved when the old I-40 is torn down and surrounding areas cleaned up. :-)

The Producer's Cooperative Oil Mill dominates the view of the skyline even more than the 50-story Devon Energy Center and does nothing to lessen fears expressed by civic boosters, including Lee Allen Smith, that the property sends the wrong message about the city to thousands of motorists passing through the city on I-40 every day.

I disgree. Driving on the old I-40 and the new I-40 is about the same distance apart. The only thing different is that its on the left side now (when traveling eastbound) and right side now (when traveling westbound). Devon Tower is still a massive tower and eye-catching. In a few years...within a decade or so, we will have another rival tower(s). The downtown skyline will continue to grow, in fact, with I-40 being pushed to the south, it gives the downtown core more room to expand. Additionally, we will enjoy the view of the grand central park. Realistically, there isn't any wrong message. The only message the drivers and travelers will get is that OKC is growing and will continue to evolve into rival major-league city. :-)

In hindsight, one also might wish the wonderful mural painted on the OKC Rocks rock climbing gym — the old grain elevator south of Bricktown — had been extended to the south facade facing the new road.

Patience, grasshopper. I am confident that a new mural will be painted on the south side. After all, OKC is dedicated to the beautification of our great city. Give it time. You may want to bring it to the owner's attention (or at the next city meeting for them to approach the owner on this). :-)

...

Change are naturally feared by many. It can be good. It can be bad. Sometime sacrifices have to be made. But all in the end, we will adjust and come to accept our great city and admire how far we have come to get to where we are today. By then, everything will be the norm and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Enjoyed reading your article, Steve, good day.

[oneforone]

I drove it for the first time this weekend. I was impressed to say the least. I think it shows the future of Oklahoma City Interstates. From what I observed the outside lane was closed to keep traffic from bottlenecking at the Dallas Junction. It looked like they were still doing lane work at the Dallas junction so it connects properly to the section between the Dallas and Ft. Smith junctions. I really enjoyed driving it because there weren't so many twists and turns. It seemed like drive went by in little or no time at all. The most impressive view was downtown emerging from the North. It reminded me of many of the larger cities I have drove through over the years. It was an awesome view to say the least.

I think one thing people are going to have to get used to the fact that the days of having on/off ramp access at every street are numbered. ODOT and Oklahoma City are going to learn from this that traffic patterns flow better with On and Off Ramps at large interchanges, on or off access at the medium traffic streets, lighter traffic streets with no access.

I think you could clear up the congestion on I-240 by placing Full Service Ramps at Shields and May. Have "On" access each direction at Penn With "Off" access each direction at Western. Walker and Santa Fe could go without ramps and could be accessed by service road from Shields or Western. This could be done over the course of a summer. To ease congestion even more you could add an additional lane that fed directly to the turnarounds at each intersection. It would probably save a few lives and few wrecked cars.

As it is there are too many accidents/near miss accidents at the western on ramp and the penn off ramp. The traffic exiting at each interchange log jams the service road. When I lived southside I worked on 240 and lived off of 89th Street. I took 20 minutes to get home on some days just because you have to wait for the lights to cycle 2 or 3 times to clear the light.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Drove it last night.

Loved it.

Now I need to drive it during the day.

[adaniel]

I've driven it twice now, both times were at night and I feel its turning Oklahoma drivers into Dallas drivers. I will admit, I'll go 5-10 over but I was being passed at 7 over and they had some speed... Was more than just 1 car also. It does feel 'big city' to me, maybe its just the 'new' I can't want to see it during the day and look forward to seeing the Skydance lit up. Both times were to drive through and I was impressed overall, feels like downtown just passes by so much fast because of it.

Honestly, the last two times I've been on it I felt that people were poking. As in 5-10 mph UNDER the speed limit. But then again, I use to live in DFW and have been called a "Dallas Driver" on multiple occasions so maybe its just me.

Slow drivers aside, definitely agree about the "big city" feel when you get on it. My biggest fear was that the new route would take people away from seeing Dowtown/Bricktown and instead take them through an area of what is now dumpy looking warehouses. Instead, the freeway is sunken just enough to where you don't see a lot of the blight and get magnificent views of the Devon Tower and the river.

IMO very rarely does ODOT get it right, but they hit a home run on this. Don't underestimate the impact that infrastructure improvements give to a city. I could certainly see this rising to the impact level that the Big I gave to Albuquerque, ironically also on I-40.

[semisimple]

IMO very rarely does ODOT get it right, but they hit a home run on this. Don't underestimate the impact that infrastructure improvements give to a city. I could certainly see this rising to the impact level that the Big I gave to Albuquerque, ironically also on I-40.

Definitely agree with you on Albuquerque and in general on the impact of nice infrastructure. The transformation of I-40 and construction of the Big I dramatically changed that corridor and really helped give Albuquerque more of a "big city" feel, not to mention significantly easing congestion. I suspect the same is true with the new Crosstown in OKC.

[Double Edge]

For those that have driven on the new I-40 now, can one see the land run monuments very well, or does it look like one will be able to when the westbound lanes open up?

I looked for them today and yes, then can be seen quite well if you are not distracted looking at the river and the boat houses on the other side of the road. Love the new views of the river there and back west of western.

[OKCisOK4me]

I keep reading about how well you can see things while driving on the new I-40. While I'm sure this is true if driving a SUV/pickup truck/semi, it is not true for a low profile vehicle like us city folk drive. Since the retaining walls are so high, the river is barely visible unless sitting straight up like an old person. Until the westbound lanes are open, I'll focus on mine and others driving through the area.

[Double Edge]

My first trip this weekend I was driving a sports car and had no problem seeing the river view from the approach to Western. There's a point where you look straight down a section of it that's really nice. I got off at shields though and I don't remember much else notable. I was looking at the bird and highway features mostly anyway.

Today was a crosstown and I was in a 1/2 ton but I still think you could see boat house row from a regular vehicle. Maybe not the land run monument. IIRC the view from my lane had that not too much higher than the far concrete barrier.

I wonder how long before Google Street View will catch up?

[jn1780]

You can see the backyards of those homes right at the bend. Noise must drive them crazy. City doesn't really want them there so its not like their ever going to build a sound barrier.

[MDot]

You can see the backyards of those homes right at the bend. Noise must drive them crazy. City doesn't really want them there so its not like their ever going to build a sound barrier.

That's one way to get somebody to move.

[mcca7596]

You can see the backyards of those homes right at the bend. Noise must drive them crazy. City doesn't really want them there so its not like their ever going to build a sound barrier.

Whether or not it's a sound barrier, it said in Steve's story that they are going to put up a decorative wall later this year.

[mcca7596]

I wonder how long before Google Street View will catch up?

Unfortunately, it will probably be awhile unless they think it's worth another trip to the metro just for I-40. The google maps cars were here at the end of 2007/beginning of 2008, then just last spring and summer.

[ljbab728]

My first trip was today and I had to travel from I44 to Western to exit going south. I did the reverse later. When going north on Western there was a VERY long wait at the light at the I40 intersection even with extremely light traffic. I have to wonder if it's just on a strict timer or if the traffic detection system will be used at some point to speed things up.

[Watson410]

I looked for them today and yes, then can be seen quite well if you are not distracted looking at the river and the boat houses on the other side of the road. Love the new views of the river there and back west of western.

Imagine what it's going to look like with the OU Boathouse, Grandstands and Stadium lights!! It's going to be AWESOME!!

[Watson410]

I looked for them today and yes, then can be seen quite well if you are not distracted looking at the river and the boat houses on the other side of the road. Love the new views of the river there and back west of western.

Imagine what it's going to look like with the OU Boathouse, Grandstands and Stadium lights!! It's going to be AWESOME!!

[MikeLucky]

I drove the new stretch from beginning to end yesterday at 5pm - rush hour sweet spot.... got on at 44 and exited on 35... and I didn't even so much as tap my brakes until I was exiting.

I think the "doer" seeking "perfection" is a drama queen.

[Jchaser405]

I love the new I-40, the only thing I miss and will have to get use to is up-close views of Bricktown/down heading westbound. I do agree there is a much more "big city" feel although.