The New I-40 (Construction Updates)

[okcfollower]

]

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/cwp-8...y2012-2019.pdf
FFY 2019, pg. 99 I think.

So in 2019...if all goes as planned..

We will have the i135/i44 interchanged all torn up for construction, i35/i240 interchange torn up for new interchange, and also i44/i40 interchange by mathis brothers have additional lanes added to it.

Looks like 2019 will be a fun time to commute with all the main interchanges leaving downtown under construction.

[OKCisOK4me]

]

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/cwp-8...y2012-2019.pdf
FFY 2019, pg. 99 I think.

Cool. Thanks!

[bombermwc]

OKCisOK - that's why i said "when it was built" not how it is today. And no i'm not talking about at mathis brothers, that's 40, not 44 and 74.

[Snowman]

What are you talking about? You mean I-40/I-44 where Mathis Brothers is on the NW corner? I don't think they'll ever touch this one either, but again, they need to. It needs to be widened to three thru lanes in all directions as it is highly congested during those rush hours.

There are plans to do this at the tail end of the eight year plan.

There are plans to work on it but for a spans that long twenty-seven million could be just a re-decking of the existing lanes instead of widening. Plus it seems far more often slowdowns come from i44 being backed up to the bridges than the bridges them self.

[OKCisOK4me]

OKCisOK - that's why i said "when it was built" not how it is today. And no i'm not talking about at mathis brothers, that's 40, not 44 and 74.

Yes and if that's what I believe you believe you're talking about then your point makes no sense.

[Jim Kyle]

The NW 39 to Grand Blvd interchange was much worse when it was originally built. Then when the Parkway replaced Grand Blvd it got really messy. At one point it was necessary to cross 3 lanes, including the 44 west to 74 north exit ramp, to get from May Avenue to southbound I44. This led to many collisions, and finally a barricade was added to make the May-to-44 entrance impossible.

The multiple entrance ramps on 44 south are still quite a headache for merging traffic.

[jn1780]

There are plans to work on it but for a spans that long twenty-seven million could be just a re-decking of the existing lanes instead of widening. Plus it seems far more often slowdowns come from i44 being backed up to the bridges than the bridges them self.

Maybe, I don't think they would redeck it before adding one extra lane though. You have five lanes and four lanes on either side of that bridge. A redecking project would reduce traffic to one lane during construction. Plus, the trend has been to widen I-40 all the way to Yukon.

[Snowman]

Maybe, I don't think they would redeck it before adding one extra lane though. You have five lanes and four lanes on either side of that bridge. A redecking project would reduce traffic to one lane during construction. Plus, the trend has been to widen I-40 all the way to Yukon.

Possibly but it would only end up a breakdown lane though, they are not going to allocate three through lanes to i40 on each bridge. Westbound they do not have enough lanes to make both them and the lanes from i44 all continue far enough to merge well and eastbound it looks like they are making two turn lanes from southbound i44 which will use all five lanes going eastbound.

[bombermwc]

Yes and if that's what I believe you believe you're talking about then your point makes no sense.

And how exactlly is that? My point was it was designed for a different traffic load than we have now. It was designed for what they projected to happen, which is pretty damned accurate. They just misjudged the amount of traffic going south on 44. You always see more traffic flowing straight through at any given point in the day that curving to 44....either direction. Rush hour is the only time it changes, and it's only on the south-bound 44 merge. They've tried to alter it several times since it's construction...none of them really doing much.

So how does that not make sense?

[OKCisOK4me]

At the time they built it 74 north turned into a 2 lane road. There was more traffic flow on the interstate. It wasn't built when Hefner Parkway was built so my point IS they should have built 44 through the current interchange with 4 lanes total instead of just 2. Its the most cockemamy interchange in the state for the volume of traffic it carries.

[Bellaboo]

Laying bets on the table, that they will have both ends off the temporary routes and opened up on the new connections by the first week of November.....

They have been making great progress lately.

[jn1780]

Laying bets on the table, that they will have both ends off the temporary routes and opened up on the new connections by the first week of November.....

They have been making great progress lately.

Since you said early November, I will say mid October even though that may be pushing it. Should have the I-235/I-35 on-ramps on their permanent alignments by October since those eastbound boulevard bridge piers are just about done now.

You would think they would have finished up things on the eastbound side like removing the concrete barriers, repainting the lines, finishing touches on the I-235 ramps, and the last remaining sign standards that show the I-235 on ramps up ahead.

[Bellaboo]

Since you said early November, I will say mid October even though that may be pushing it. Should have the I-235/I-35 on-ramps on their permanent alignments by October since those eastbound boulevard bridge piers are just about done now.

You would think they would have finished up things on the eastbound side like removing the concrete barriers, repainting the lines, finishing touches on the I-235 ramps, and the last remaining sign standards that show the I-235 on ramps up ahead.

I hope you win the bet, they've been putting down the roadbed on both ends lately at a good pace....I just think those bridge decks seem to take a while, that's why I picked November.

[Bellaboo]

The permanent ramp from southbound I-235 to westbound I-40 opened sometime between last Thursday night and yesterday......still doing a little guard rail work but we're now on the new off ramp.

[jedicurt]

northbound I-235 to westbound I-40 also opened during that time frame.

[jn1780]

Noticed today that the unused concrete barrier over on the east end of alignment was finally being removed.

[OKCisOK4me]

unused concrete barrier? please explain where its placement is/was. Thanks!

[jn1780]

unused concrete barrier? please explain where its placement is/was. Thanks!

Unused portable concrete barriers on the eastbound side. Westbound was originally going to share the eastbound side, but the contractor on the east end was able to finish the final connection before I-40 opened.

When the barrier wall is removed, the lines will be repainted and the fifth lane will be opened. There's a lot of small things going eastbound that are still not done like sign standards indicating the I-235 ramps and longer lanes for these ramps. It is still somewhat of a bottleneck just not as bad as the westbound bottleneck.

[catch22]

That bridge over the canal extension is already really bad looking. That dip is horrendous.

[Bellaboo]

That bridge over the canal extension is already really bad looking. That dip is horrendous.

I drive that every day, and it was terrible until about 3 weeks ago, when they replaced a section all the way accross connecting to the bridge. It is not near as bad as it was, now there is a another bad dip where they connected with the old concrete just East of there about 100 yards.

[SoonerBoy18]

When is the construction by the I-40/I-44 junction going to be complete?

[ljbab728]

When is the construction by the I-40/I-44 junction going to be complete?

Someday.

[jn1780]

When is the construction by the I-40/I-44 junction going to be complete?

Before the end of the year is a safe bet. They were pouring the deck for the bridge over Agnew yesterday.

[HangryHippo]

I drive that every day, and it was terrible until about 3 weeks ago, when they replaced a section all the way accross connecting to the bridge. It is not near as bad as it was, now there is a another bad dip where they connected with the old concrete just East of there about 100 yards.

Yeah, it's absolutely incredible that parts of the new highway are already deteriorating around this area. Road construction is just a never-ending nightmare in this state.

[jn1780]

Yeah, it's absolutely incredible that parts of the new highway are already deteriorating around this area. Road construction is just a never-ending nightmare in this state.

Not really deteriorating. The contractor just did a lousy job from the beginning.