Construction crews are racing to complete the $650 million relocation of the I-40 Crosstown Expressway by 2012, said a transportation department official.
Like the old one, the new expressway will also span downtown. It will be a 10-lane interstate stretching four and a half miles, from May Ave. to I-235. It is five blocks south of the current roadway.
It is on target to begin carrying traffic in 2012, although some work won’t finish for awhile, ODOT’s Brenda Perry told the City Sentinel.
The undertaking required 23 construction sub contracts under the project’s overall umbrella. Each one is proceeding on schedule and progressing as quickly as possible. There is clearly reason for a sense of urgency.
“Seventy-six vehicles a day is what it was designed for,” Perry said.. “Now it has traffic in excess of 120,000.”
Making the existing roadway safer during the new one’s construction is a top ODOT priority. Due to its 50-year age and condition, the existing bridge structure is inspected every six months by engineers and related experts instead of the standard two-year cycle.
The existing highway has approximately 250 potential fracture points. A failure with one of one could result in the collapse of a portion of the roadway.
To protect travelers, ODOT spends about $4 million annually maintaining the old I-40. That includes $3 million in major repairs/rehabilitation, $1 million in routine maintenance, she said.
Once the new one opens in about two years, the old expressway will be razed to make way for a multi-lane boulevard reconnecting downtown Oklahoma City to the interstates.
In addition to the safety features of the road itself, two dangerous underpasses (Robinson and Walker Avenues) will be replaced with new bridges passing over
Federal funding of $300 million is defraying the project’s total cost. State funds pay for the rest, except for a critical reconnection to interstate estimated at about $80 million.
That problems remains to be solved, said Perry.
