Pedestrian Bridge planned accross Northwest Expressway & Wilshire Boulevard

[Timtoomany]

I like the visual showing a woman with a stroller looking dolefully at the stairs.

[OKC Guy]

Since one of the intended uses (if not the major purpose) is to connect bike/walking trails, this location makes sense.

Correct. But I think its a mistake. No one from north side will use it they would go to lake and are already on that side. There is no shopping to walk over it for, I guess they can walk to OnCue? Its a catch 22. I know they mated up paths but its not going to be used much for the cost.

Too bad they couldn’t have made the path elsewhere it just seems for the walker there is not much reason to use it. If a person walked from north to south over this bridge where is there to go? If you want to go east you would have to walk on NWE since no sidewalk next to that pond. It would be easier to just walk up to Mac and use that crosswalk. Same going from south to north not much there.

So in other words is 90% for bikers to use path set out long time ago. I wish we could have done a bundle deal and got at least 2 more to put other 2 in more walker useful areas. Especially Penn with the new Oak going up in future.

[HOT ROD]

just build another one near Oak and Penn Square/50 Penn Place..

No reason why we need to only build one pedestrian bridge when there are actually many needs and that is a massive one, eh Pete?

[Pete]

^

Once you cross NW Expressway, it's still almost impossible to walk to Penn Square Mall.

There are no sidewalks; you have to do battle with all the cars streaming in there.

[SEMIweather]

^

Once you cross NW Expressway, it's still almost impossible to walk to Penn Square Mall.

There are no sidewalks; you have to do battle with all the cars streaming in there.

NW Expressway between May & Classen has my vote for worst pedestrian experience in all of OKC, relative to what it should be. Trying to cross under I-44 is downright dangerous. The whole area is a major retail & economic hub for the city that is crying out for improvements, hopefully something gets done in that regard over the next 5-10 years. Really, it's well overdue for better pedestrian access but I'm trying to keep realistic expectations. It would be nice if something could be done in concert with the impending I-44 Belle Isle Bridge reconstruction.

[Pete]

I've posted this before but I live just south of NW Ex and west of Penn and I've tried walking across the expressway and to the mall and it's almost impossible.

There are now sidewalks all through my neighborhood (they all lead to a school in the center) and a decent pedestrian crossing on the west side of Penn across NW Ex. But once you get to the north side, you just can't get to the mall. No sidewalks on the east side of Penn, big embankment if you manage to dangerously work your way over there. No ped crossing at Belleview (the light to the north of NW Ex) and even if there was, no way to get to the mall without dodging the crazy car traffic flooding in.

And then if you wind your way through the Belle Isle neighborhood to get to Villa and the library, you simply can't cross NW Ex again. There is no crosswalk, no pedestrian signals and the intersection is so wide, you can barely run (and I mean RUN) across NW Expressway even if a car trips a light for you.

And of course, there are no sidewalks along NW Ex on either side. So, literally no way for people south of the expressway to walk or ride a bike to the library.

It's one of the most comically bad pedestrian experiences you could ever dream up.

[David]

I had similar experiences with attempting to just walk to the mall a few times in December to avoid the Christmas mall parking experience. I live a bit further to the south, and while the sidewalk up the west side of Penn works nicely to get to the general area, once you are there you have zero options for safely crossing either Penn or NW expressway. It's all Ward 2 so I suppose I should send a message to James Cooper about it.

[shawnw]

There's a bus stop at Penn Square, north of NW Exp. I've used that stop before. That might actually be the most pedestrian friendly way to cross. :-)

[Mott]

Since one of the intended uses (if not the major purpose) is to connect bike/walking trails, this location makes sense.

Nice, if the ramps have been thought out by a bicycle rider. And, will the city fix the trail at I-40?

[shawnw]

MAC is in the final design stages of a new @cityofokc pedestrian bridge over NW Expressway. Thank you to our design partners @Connect_CEC, @adgokc and @_LeeEngineering! How cool is this rendering of the bridge design!? #OKC #Trails

https://twitter.com/MACengineers/sta...12792890904577

[Pete]

^

Image from that tweet:

[Plutonic Panda]

Too bad they tore down scores of mid century buildings. NWE could have been a treasure trove for mid century architecture. Now we get designs like this which are almost insults similar to the BOK Parking garage “preserving” part of the bus station sign.

[Bill Robertson]

Wow. Not at all what we drew up years ago when we first met about doing this bridge to connect the trails system between Hefner and Overholser. But it'll work I guess.

[shawnw]

https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/dev...st-expressway/

[taha]

any updates on this? its been a couple years

[Pete]

any updates on this? its been a couple years

I'm not sure what is going on.

I have been by there several times to check and there hasn't been any movement as of yet.

[Pete]

I had tried to take drone shots of the construction (mainly along the creek on the north side of NW Expressway) but they have recently expanded the 'no-fly zone' around Wiley Post to about 3 miles in every direction, meaning I can't even take off in most of NW OKC.

Anyway, here's a press release:

*************




City of OKC News Release Banner Graphic
Work begins on pedestrian bridge over NW Expressway
11/16/2021

Link to story Link to rendering

Construction begins this week on an iconic 121-foot pedestrian bridge over NW Expressway Blvd (State Highway 3), east of Wilshire Blvd.

The bridge will link the Lake Hefner and Lake Overholser Trail and provide safer passage for walkers, cyclists and runners across NW Expressway. The $5.3 million project is funded by the 2007 Bond Program and the 2017 Better Streets Safer City Bond Program.

The design concept represents classic cars from the 40s, 50s and 60s and nearby airports, Wiley Post and Clarence E Page, and their aviation heritage.

Construction details include water line relocation, excavation, reinforced steel, a prefabricated bridge, superstructure, stair placement, ramps and guardrails, ADA curb ramps, lighting, signing, striping, sidewalks and driveway replacement.

The project begins November 15, 2021, and extends through the fall of 2022, weather permitting.

Drivers should expect intermittent lane closures throughout the project.

[billokc]

Now I know what area to avoid for the next year.

[Pete]

[Brett]

I encourage drivers of NW Expressway to try and avoid this construction bottleneck. I honestly do not foresee many people using this pedestrian bridge.

[shawnw]

This is the intersection of a heavily used trail. You may not see many walkers, but bikers that are new or less confident about the intersection will use it, even though it's not optimal for bikes.

I do suspect more drivers will use it than walkers, though. I see people pulling over or slowing down to take selfies with it, possibly messing up traffic to do so.

[SEMIweather]

I might eat my words later in this thread, but looking at the renderings I don't really foresee there being too many lane closures over the course of this project. Reminds me of the SW 34th St extension over I-35 in Moore, and it's not like that project caused any major, long-lasting traffic bottlenecks.

[jn1780]

I might eat my words later in this thread, but looking at the renderings I don't really foresee there being too many lane closures over the course of this project. Reminds me of the SW 34th St extension over I-35 in Moore, and it's not like that project caused any major, long-lasting traffic bottlenecks.

Yeah, usually only when a middle pier is involved do you see impact on the road beneath the bridge. The truss will probably be assembled to the side and put in place overnight.

[jn1780]

This is the intersection of a heavily used trail. You may not see many walkers, but bikers that are new or less confident about the intersection will use it, even though it's not optimal for bikes.

I do suspect more drivers will use it than walkers, though. I see people pulling over or slowing down to take selfies with it, possibly messing up traffic to do so.

True. its meant more for the trail, not so much the surrounding local community.

[Pete]

Ultimately, the BRT will be extended that direction and then the bridge will be an important access point for the thousands of apartment units on the south side of NW Expressway.