I guess the lesson here is if you are working with the Railroad on an ongoing project, don't work with someone who is near retirement.
Probably best to keep the records of all communication organized and available anyway for things like this.
Looks like this is finally going to be resolved:
For several months, the Union Pacific Railroad Company (Railroad) and the City
have been in the process of negotiating an agreement for pedestrian and boat
access to the canal extension that provides access from the Oklahoma River to
the Bricktown landing that is located under the railroad bridge owned by Union
Pacific. That agreement has been finalized and is currently in the process of
formal execution and approval.
The City and COTPA requested temporary permission to utilize the canal under
the bridge solely for the operation of river boats operated by the City or COTPA,
which Union Pacific has agreed to. The permit covers the period of 12:01 a.m.
on Saturday May 24th, 2014 and ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 22, 2014.
The bridge is OWNED by UP?
This is only a temporary permit? Ugh.
Also, the regatta is Independence Day weekend you'd think they'd make the permit good until after that at least...
Lastly, this doesn't read to me like pedestrians will be allowed to use this during the permit terms, only the river boats.
The last thing I heard was that UP still wanted some sort of insurance for the sidewalks and the insurers the city has been talking to do not have experience with something like this so were still trying to determine how they would calculate the risks. How is this any different than the bike/pedestrian trails? Plus due to it's age it is probably one of the safest bridges in the state right now.
Maybe, though being one of the safest bridges in Oklahoma isn't really all that special.
What I posted indicates they have reached a permanent agreement and are just waiting for all the signatures.
The temp. permit is to bridge the gap until the full agreement kicks in.
Yeah, on re-read, I see what you mean about the permanent part. But it would be nice to know the terms (e.g. does it include pedestrian access).
Yes, I believe so:
an agreement for pedestrian and boat access to the canal extension that provides access from the Oklahoma River to the Bricktown landing that is located under the railroad bridge owned by Union Pacific. That agreement has been finalized and is currently in the process of formal execution and approval.
Tweeted by the city a few minutes ago: Bricktown Landing to open
(June 24, 2014) - Officials from Union Pacific Railroad, the City of Oklahoma City and the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority have completed an agreement to allow pedestrian and River Cruiser access to Bricktown Landing.
Barricades to Bricktown Landing will be removed by 5 p.m. today.
Bricktown Landing is a trail, sidewalk and river channel that allows people and River Cruisers to travel between Bricktown and the Boathouse District.
Visitors can get to the Landing from the Chesapeake Boathouse and Regatta Park Landing in the Boathouse District, or near the Land Run Monument in Bricktown.
Contact: Shannon Cox, 297-2130
Shannon.cox@okc.gov
Looks like it's open.
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Gotta say, the underside of the bridge is a bit larger than I was really imagining. I suppose I was expecting something closer to the feel of the canal through Bricktown and the bridges over it.
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Thanks so much for these.
Those vertical sticks light up in multiple colors.
It was open briefly for the Regatta Festival and I parked south of Bass Pro and took that route over; super easy ingress and egress, even on a very busy day.
Ahh, nice, I was wondering about the poles and what they were for.
Good, I hope a train doesn't happen to derail at that one specific spot and kill me when I walk underneath. lol
We walked over to the river last night. We'd walked through the barricades a long time ago, but this time it was nice to be legit. Clearly the last storm raised the river level considerably because there was a debris line about 3 ft about the current level. There was a huge amount of debris (which you can see a little of in that first picture above) in the eddy where the river canal meets the Bricktown canal. One of the things I've been the most turned off by when walking along all the river is all the debris in the little side drainages. Why are we such litterers here? With that big storm a bunch of it got pushed into the canal. It's unappetizing for residents, but I always hate the thought of visitors seeing all that trash. I wonder how we can keep those side creeks clean?
The other thing I noticed was that I-40 is extremely noisy. The Boulevard is going to make that area even noisier and less attractive. That made me wonder about our new park too. How noisy will it be? How do you spend a relaxing afternoon on the grass in the park if you've got noise pollution to deal with? Perhaps we need to be thinking about sound control. I'm sure when the new I-40 was conceived, they didn't think people would actually be spending any time near the highway but that's all changed and was never planned for.
It should not be as bad at the central park location, it will have the retaining wall and trees nearest to the road to deflect and absorb noise. Another thing is near where the canal & river meet the road is banked in a way that directs most of the noise to it, it is not that way near the park.
Looks good! Slowly but surely improving this city on all fronts.
Love. It.
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