Convention Center

[Pete]

I believe the width of Robinson -- as well as the roundabout itself -- is all about accommodating the huge trucks that will be coming in and out of the convention center docks on a regular basis.

[HOT ROD]

which ironically will mostly be coming down Shields from I-40 and then turning to the cc docks at the revised Broadway, NOT on or via Robinson at all ....

weird?

[Pete]

which ironically will mostly be coming down Shields from I-40 and then turning to the cc docks at the revised Broadway, NOT on or via Robinson at all ....

weird?

They may be guiding those trucks to Robinson precisely because there is more room to maneuver.

[Plutonic Panda]

I think using older traffic counts doesn’t make sense here as traffic will surely increase on this road and especially on days with multiple events the four lanes will be needed. But all that is moot if a bottleneck exists at the roundabout which is does so having four lanes doesn’t do much good anyways.

Honestly it’s not a big deal and the road could be narrowed with little impact. They might as well expand the sidewalk more and add protected cycle lanes.

[HOT ROD]

I still can't see long haul trucks coming down Robinson to enter/depart from the CC. Shields provides the direct connection to I-40 and is very wide - so makes the most sense. And given that the loading docs of the cc are facing Shields and accessed via the new Broadway "Avenue" strip, I'd have to guess that Long Haul Trucks would not route to Robinson which has NO access to I-40.

Now Buses and Tour Vans - yes, they likely will use Robinson and therefore needed a revised roundabout. but as others have noted, there's no reason why OKC couldn't have put in a dual lane roundabout on Robinson other than they didn't want to interfere too much with the park in doing so.

[HOT ROD]

I also hope/argue that the roundabout needs a monument of some sort for OKC - something special and not just landscaping, especially not the half baked landscaping that we see on the other downtown roundabouts. ... We need a statue or a fountain or even a large plaque or SOMETHING creating a gateway to the Union District at this roundabout.

An Oil Derrick, a giant ScissorTail bird, a large fountain (my pref), even an OKC. Something GRAND is needed there.

[Scott5114]

I still can't see long haul trucks coming down Robinson to enter/depart from the CC. Shields provides the direct connection to I-40 and is very wide - so makes the most sense. And given that the loading docs of the cc are facing Shields and accessed via the new Broadway "Avenue" strip, I'd have to guess that Long Haul Trucks would not route to Robinson which has NO access to I-40.

[zefferoni]

Now do one coming from the other direction.

[Plutonic Panda]

I thought about this as well but the new boulevard could fill this movement.

[jedicurt]

I thought about this as well but the new boulevard could fill this movement.

i mean i literally thought that was what the new boulevard was for, since they didn't want to actually make it useable for business development, pedestrian movement, ect...

[Pete]

The reworking of Robinson and the addition of the roundabout was done to accommodate large trucks in and out of the convention center.

That was specifically mentioned in plans that were presented before this project ever commenced.

[catcherinthewry]

The reworking of Robinson and the addition of the roundabout was done to accommodate large trucks in and out of the convention center.

I'm sure this is true, but I've been told the main reason for the round about is for vehicles coming from downtown to be able to turn around and make pick ups/drop offs for the CC.

[Laramie]

Drove Robinson from Capitol Hill, really surprised when I found my vehicle on the roundabout (Glare from sunlight). Hope they can expand this road because if someone gets stuck or vehicle stalls on this road it will present some real problems during run hour.



Great view of the park when you get in front of the convention center past the roundabout. The Convention Center and Omni can be seen the minute you reach the top of Robinson--the area looks massive. BTW: There weren't any barriers from Robinson into the convention center area.

A real 'big city' feel...

[shawnw]

Drove Robinson from Capitol Hill, really surprised when I found my vehicle on the roundabout (Glare from sunlight). Hope they can expand this road because if someone gets stuck or vehicle stalls on this road it will present some real problems during run hour.

I think the bigger problem will be people using the roundabout as a drop off for scissortail/skating rink, you know it will happen.

[HOT ROD]

Now do one coming from the other direction.

guys my apologies. You can see I'm not in OKC and I recall (prob from long ago) that Sheilds was the exit. IMO it should be but I see robinson is indeed the exit.Thanks!!Now with all this in mind it begs the question why even have a round-about there in the first place? And second, why was shields overbuilt with so much capacity yet not the main entry into the city from I-40??I just dont get building a roundabout in a forced narrow three-way interchange where long haul trucks are going to have to overshoot onto the roundabout to make the turn into and from the cc. ... A traffic light would have been a much better approach and the round-about should be at OKC BLVD a few places. ...Head-scratcher on the engineering planning in OKC. .....

[Laramie]

I think the bigger problem will be people using the roundabout as a drop off for scissortail/skating rink, you know it will happen.

Totally agree,

They will need to keep this roundabout free of icy road conditions, especially if it will be used as a drop off. Good observation, Shawnw.

[jccouger]

One of a few reasons to add the roundabout may have simply been to slow traffic down before entering into a heavy pedestrian area between the CC & park. It will help with traffic flow in & out of the parking lot as well, but I bet it creates a nice natural slow down of traffic coming from the south off the ramp.

Also, the potential "drop off" area in the roundabout will at least we be coming north to south so vision shouldn't be a major issue I'd guess.

[Scott5114]

guys my apologies. You can see I'm not in OKC and I recall (prob from long ago) that Sheilds was the exit. IMO it should be but I see robinson is indeed the exit.Thanks!!

Eastbound I-40 exits to Shields, and westbound I-40 exits to Robinson. So that may have been what tripped you up.

And second, why was shields overbuilt with so much capacity yet not the main entry into the city from I-40??

Before the interstates were built, Shields carried US-77, which was the main road between Oklahoma City and Dallas. That explains why it was built so wide in the first place, though you'd think that now that all the traffic it used to carry is now on I-35, they would maybe consider narrowing it. Guess they've never had a reason to consider spending the money to do so.

[HOT ROD]

excellent scott, thanks!!

[Pete]

[shawnw]

Is..... that a truck using the circle as a drop off already?

Who could have predicted such a thing...

[Pete]

This is a fantastic podcast about roundabouts:

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/roundabouts/


Among many people that speak on the topic is the Mayor of Carmel, IN (just north of Indy) which has implemented scores of roundabouts and they are now down to a handful of signalized intersections with the goal of removing them all but one.

[shawnw]

thanks. added to my podcast queue...

[soonerguru]

While I was neither a big proponent nor opponent of the convention center, I must say it is extremely impressive, beautifully executed. The genius of MAPS 3 is finally coming into view, and how its component projects (convention center, streetcar, park) work together to create synergy. We will look back on the ROI of these investments as having paid off by orders of magnitude in the future.

[Pete]

^

The best thing about the convention center is how it has brought the Omni and development to Scissortail Park.

Imagine if it had gone elsewhere; the park would be in the middle of absolute nothingness.

As it is, there is lots of life down there even before we've had any private development, with Social Capital being the one great exception.