we need urban master plans for OKC in general.
we need urban master plans for OKC in general.
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
I drove through that area on 235 just last night and one idea I had, though lofty, was building a wide bridge across 235. Make it like a hundred or couple hundred feet wide and keep enough to put a layer of dirt and maybe a bike/walking path on. The end result would be a short tunnel on 235 and the two districts connected.
His name is CuatroDeMayo. He is the resident badass of OKCTalk
https://andrewkstewart.wordpress.com...ntennial-park/
I would rather see Cuatro's idea come to life than Core to Shore! This would be so awesome and truly connect the neighborhoods and expand downtown. I guess it is a fantasy considering the city would have to work with ODOT to ever get this implemented.
Not to mention it would probably be a billion dollar project. Maybe some day when our population has tripled. MAPS VII maybe?
Like many of my ideas (Market Circle, etc), these drawings are created merely to spur conversations, stir the imagination, and suggest change. It's more about the IDEA of spanning the freeway than a an actual, viable, plan for doing so.
I doubt this would be $1 billion. Klyde Warren Park in Dallas was $100 million for 0.2 miles (cap + park). A Univ. of Texas proposal to cap a one-mile portion of I-35 through downtown Austin is estimated at $550 million. CDM's park would run 0.8 mi., and, using those comps as estimates, could be built for around $450 million.
In Downtown STL, they are capping one block of interstate highway with park space as part of a larger plan to "connect" the Arch grounds to the heart of Downtown.
St. Louis Gateway Arch Grounds Project | CityArchRiver 2015
The "cap" over the highway looks to be $26 million. The entire project is $250 million.
WOW WOW WOW!!!
This will be amazing!
Here is direct link to the before and after. When you switch from a picture, you slide the bar above the pic to view what it will be. Very neat and this should really liven up the area!
CityArchRiver 2015 | Slider Gallery
MAPs has been a godsend for OKC. Now when I look at a city very similar to ours; Omaha comes to mind. They do not have a vehicle like MAPs at their disposal. Yet, the times I have visited Nebraska's largest city, their growth appears modest--getting better. We are growing at a much faster rate.
I've been impressed with their medical center area; especially with the recent cases in the way they have handled the Ebola outbreak.
My brother works at the OU Medical Center (Lab); he's close to his second retirement. They are well-equipped to handle most anything. Especially their trauma center. He has talked with doctors who want the areas' cosmetics advanced. There appears to be some concern with the visionary outlook for that area.
My personal (services from McGee Eye Institute, OU Physicians, OU Family Medicine, Pharmacy) experience in that area as it develops is walkability. Once I use the parking garage, it's pure shoe-leather from there on. I recall how difficult it was for me to get around in that area from Stanton L. Young, 10th & 13th streets.
Omaha seems to have a much better diagram with the way they have planned and coordinated their medical facilities. One my aunts lived there for years, I recall our visit there how similar it was to OKC. University of Oklahoma's expanded medical presence in that area will make the difference.
Just wonder if there's any areas in which MAPs could be incorporated into the OU Medical Center area where it could be a game changer or difference maker connecting downtown.
But it is an actual, viable idea that should be done. Ohio ODOT has recently gotten in the habit of building a lot of urban freeway caps in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland.
Cincy's freeway separating it from the Ohio River is getting capped:
A series of double caps over 670 in Columbus between Downtown and the Short North
Long Street Cultural Bridge in Columbus connecting downtown and a historically important African American area
South High and Front Street caps connecting downtown and the Brewery District
Innerbelt reconstruction in Cleveland which widens it but eliminated room for exits, so caps are used to create room for exits without tearing down historic buildings
And of course the grand daddy of them all, the Big Dig
LA is getting freeway caps that hide its huge freeways and give it sorely needed greenspace
Chicago is finally capping the Kennedy Expressway
St. Louis should have capped 70 to connect the city to the Arch long ago
Dallas built Klyde Warren Park connecting the Arts District across the Woodall Rogers Freeway
If we didn't have a DOT that was stuck in the stone ages, we would be doing these, too.
That's the thing. As we've seen from the Boulevard discussion, its very difficult to convince ODOT to think outside the box. In your opinion what should be done to change that? I am sure funding is also an issue. The extravagant highway projects being built in large cities in more affluent states likely cost more than ODOT has the ability to spend.
Only the part between I-30 and Woodall Rogers. Not the entire Central Expressway. From what I read, not much chance of it being removed
If we were able to get it built, the tagline for Centennial Park should be "Sometimes you can fix stupid."
Why not, that's exactly what it's about. Urban Renewal freeways were always a messy order of business, and OKDOT shouldn't have built them in the first place if they didn't have the resources for proper mitigation.
I believe Tulsa is generating discussion about freeway caps, so already it sounds like there should be a majority of people in the state wanting one. Klyde Warren Park in Dallas (over Woodall Rogers) was $110MM, which I don't think is too bad, but if that is bad we should look at the Ohio freeway caps which are just bridges extended and reinforced to support a building or a park.
I suspect Tulsa would support a cap if they got one first. lol.
Joke aside, I wonder if a coordinated effort could be launched so that the cap included streetcar connection into the OHC and then overall budgets were consistent. This is where I always argue that OKC needs master planning to guide development and coordinate expenditures.
As an aside: I'm actually surprised that I-40 didn't include a cap for the new Union Park. If it did, you'd truly have a continuous greenspace from the CBD down to the river. While I appreciate the 'statement' that was meant to be made by the pedestrian bridge, you really can't see it too well from the freeway due to all of the bridges blocking it on approach (IMO).
Oklahoma City, the RENAISSANCE CITY!
I would say a cap over I-235 should be a part of MAPS4, but I don't know if the city would have any say in it being that its ODOT property. Would any freeway cap have to be proposed and funded entirely by ODOT? It is a cool idea though and it would be great if there would be a way to make it happen without having to get Tulsa and rural Oklahoma on board.
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