Crosstown Expressway

[BG918]

Does anyone have maps of where the Crosstown Expressway will go? I've heard they will be demolishing the Union Station and Little Flower Catholic Church, are these places in the path of the new highway?

[mranderson]

I heard just the opposite. That Little Flower would be spared.

It is a very important and sentimental part of that community. Personally, I usually do not mind old buildings that appear to be in bad shape to go for progress, but Little Flower is different.

All though I am not catholic, the church is special. It is sacred.

The first person I went to school with that died was buried from that church. So, I will always have a place for it in my heart as Joe and I were pretty good friends.

I have never heard anything one way or the other about the train station.

[Patrick]

Yup, both Union Station and Little Flower will be preserved.

The Union Station "Rail Yard", however will go.....two or three tracks will remain though. The Rail Yard is just behind Union Station. Basically, the Crosstown will run just south of Union Station, so Union Station will be right off the highway.

By the way, it appears that the Crosstown will have two HOV lanes on each side in addition to 3 regular lanes on each side. So it will be 10 lanes total. It will be 12 lanes in some locations, as there will be on and off lanes similar to Broadway Extn.

I was unable to find a map of where the new Crosstown will run (if I find one I'll post it), but here are some good visuals:

[Patrick]

Hey, there's actually a good map of it on this PDF document. Just zoom in on it. ODOT chose Option D. Looks like one of the options that will take the highway furthest from downtown.

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/publi...wn_History.pdf

[Patrick]

Here's the Union Station info:

[Luke]

That is one freakin' huge slab. Wonder where the bottleneck will be on either side. Not fun. Glad they're doing this though. The new boulevard looks like it'll be nice.

[okcstylez]

Why are the 4 lanes seperated in the middle of the highway like that?

[Patrick]

The 4 lanes in the center are the HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicle).....2 on either side, for use by vehicles with 2 or more people....it's supposed to encourage people to car pool. You see this a lot in larger cities. I think Dallas has a few HOV lanes.

I'm with Luke though........it's only going to be 10 lanes for a short stretch.....when you get back to the I-235 junction on the east side, and the other connection on the west side, there's going to be a huge bottleneck. Not sure how they'll deal with that. It will be interesting to see.

[Nuclear_2525]

Hmmm...I like the pedestrian bridge concept, it would really liven things up, and I would like to see the brick and rot-iron fencing done to bridges all over the city(like KC did), BUT what is going to happen when the city gets lazy and doesn't mow the green areas as much as they should. Then instead of just having tall grass on the sides of the highways, it is going to be where people are trying to walk too.

[Patrick]

You know, the city keeps creating areas like this, but then fails to maintain them. Instead of creating new areas, we really need to focus on keeping up the areas we already have. Just my opinion anyways.

I think the greenbelt though was to try to win over the support of the Riverside neighborhood. I still don't like the way the highway is just trashing through their neighborhood though. Oh well...I have no choice in the matter. Seems like the litle guy always gets the bad end of the stick.

[mranderson]

The 4 lanes in the center are the HOV lanes (High Occupancy Vehicle).....2 on either side, for use by vehicles with 2 or more people....it's supposed to encourage people to car pool. You see this a lot in larger cities. I think Dallas has a few HOV lanes.

I'm with Luke though........it's only going to be 10 lanes for a short stretch.....when you get back to the I-235 junction on the east side, and the other connection on the west side, there's going to be a huge bottleneck. Not sure how they'll deal with that. It will be interesting to see.

Actually, they are express lanes. Totally different than "carpool lanes," commonly known in this region as "HOV lanes."

Express lanes have no exits what so ever. Once you are on, you are on until the end. They will speed the flow of traffic dramatically.

I first saw these used in St. Louis. And they DO work.

[Patrick]

Oh cool! Thanks for the clarification mranderson. That explains the concrete barriers separating these lanes from the rest of the highway.

I suppose Express lanes would be more for people that are just passing through and don't want to stop. In a way, the concept sounds good, but in a way it doesn't. What about people that see a sign for Bricktown somewhere along the Crosstown and decide they want to get off? Once they're on the Express lane it's too late.