Downtown Street Rehab and Conversion

[MichaelC]

More at Tulsa World

quote: To better handle the additional traffic flow, more than $20 million in downtown Tulsa street work is set to happen before the BOK Center's September 2008 grand opening.

About 50 city blocks will be rehabilitated during the next 18 months, said Paul Zachary, Public Works Department deputy director of engineering.

"All of this work is going to be done between now and Labor Day 2008," he said. "We are going to be ready for what the arena will bring us.

"Most of time, there aren't delays with street work. Sometimes we're even finished early. But it is a tight schedule."

Zachary said crews will likely have to work some unusual hours to finish on time and noted that the project budgets were planned for that extra cost.

"We are looking at some weekend and nighttime work alternatives," he said. "During the summer months, that can be advantageous because it's cooler and we can close some streets without affecting traffic."

None of the streets will be completely closed during work hours and all buildings will be accessible, Zachary said.

"We want to try not to inconvenience people," he said. "If these were normal projects and we didn't have that deadline looming, we wouldn't tackle this many blocks of downtown at once. But it has to be done."

One project already under way is the two-way conversion
and rehabilitation of Boston Avenue from Third Street to 10th Street.

The $5.5 million endeavor, funded through the 2001 third-penny sales tax package, should be complete this fall.

[OurTulsa]

If only we could construct people down there in conjunction with the street improvements.

I like the improvements.  Fortunately the downtown grid provides plenty of alternate routes to avoid the construction.  While I work just around the corner from Boston it's easy to get around.

[Double A]

Yo J.J., ya wanna focus more attention on the centennial walk? How about a centennial walk of fame like Hollywood's walk of fame, sponsored by fan clubs of various famous Tulsans. I can think of a few I would donate to right off the top of my head. If you think about it, there are enough famous Tulsans to pave most of the sidewalks along the route. This is the kind of innovative public, private partnership Tulsa needs. Not to mention it would be an added point of interest for tour groups along the route. Think about it.

[patric]

The saddest part of this is knowing that even before most of the work has begun, we will have to turn around and spend millions doing it all over again:


Instead of leaving streets safer, ornamental lamps in 10 percent of the city are leaving police and residents temporarily blinded.
http://www.startribune.com/462/v-print/story/896615.html

The city of Minneapolis has installed thousands of ornamental acorn- or lantern-style streetlamps in the past 15 years to improve neighborhoods and reduce crime, but the new lights are overly bright and poorly designed, making it difficult for police officers to see through the glare.
"It's more difficult to see with some of those lights," said Lt. Chris Hildreth of the Minneapolis police's 5th Precinct.

[inteller]

thank god they are going to fix 1st street

[dsjeffries]

Does anyone know why they closed off Boulder Avenue (or is it Main?) between 1st & Archer?  I see it every day walking to and from work and have always wondered why it's closed.
It seems like that would be a great link between the Brady District and the BOK Center...  and to me, it doesn't make sense to have it blocked off-- I mean, it's already built, why not use it?  Is it structurally unsound (like a most bridges and roads in Oklahoma)

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by DScott28604

Does anyone know why they closed off Boulder Avenue (or is it Main?) between 1st & Archer?  I see it every day walking to and from work and have always wondered why it's closed.
It seems like that would be a great link between the Brady District and the BOK Center...  and to me, it doesn't make sense to have it blocked off-- I mean, it's already built, why not use it?  Is it structurally unsound (like a most bridges and roads in Oklahoma)

They closed the boulder bridge because it was falling apart (literally). Money to repair/replace the bridge are included in the third penny but are currently scheduled sometime  shortly before or after the apocalypse. The Brady Village association, TulsaNow, and the Tulsa Development authority all consider it to be a higher priority than that and needs to be open close to the arena opening.

Some brady info here:
http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5942

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by MichaelC

As per the image, I wasn't aware that there WAS a Highway 444 in Tulsa... Maybe 244 or 412, but 444? Hmmm... One would think that with the great number of maps the World puts out that they'd know the Highway numbers...

[Chris]

444 is the highway number given to part of the IDL. It is technically a business route of I-44

[perspicuity85]

quote:Originally posted by Chris

444 is the highway number given to part of the IDL. It is technically a business route of I-44

Technically the east and south parts of the IDL are 444.  For a previous employer, I once viewed the original construction/engineering plans for the IDL.  When the signage was being installed in the 1970's, ODOT eliminated 444 from any road signs because they thought it would confuse motorists.  Remember I-244, US 412, SH-51, US 64, and US 75 are all a part of the IDL already.  In the original interstate plan for Tulsa, Riverside Dr. was to be paved over by interstate 444 until it connected with I-44 near 51st St.  Obviously that alignment caused much opposition from residents near Riverside, and US 75 was developed as the north-south freeway out of downtown instead.

[dsjeffries]

quote:Originally posted by perspicuity85

quote:Originally posted by Chris

444 is the highway number given to part of the IDL. It is technically a business route of I-44

Technically the east and south parts of the IDL are 444.  For a previous employer, I once viewed the original construction/engineering plans for the IDL.  When the signage was being installed in the 1970's, ODOT eliminated 444 from any road signs because they thought it would confuse motorists.  Remember I-244, US 412, SH-51, US 64, and US 75 are all a part of the IDL already.  In the original interstate plan for Tulsa, Riverside Dr. was to be paved over by interstate 444 until it connected with I-44 near 51st St.  Obviously that alignment caused much opposition from residents near Riverside, and US 75 was developed as the north-south freeway out of downtown instead.

Wow!  I did Not know that.  People get confused enough when I tell them to take 412 East.  When I tell them it's the same thing as 244, they just sit there with this look on their face like, "How can they give the same road two names??"...

[bacjz00]

I know we can't all have what we want, but I'm a little disappointed that the city won't be rehabilitating ALL of 6th, 7th and 8th streets as these are the streets that connect the East and West ends of downtown.  

Both of the major highway onramps/exits on the East/West IDL use either 7th or 8th streets and east-bound traffic on 7th street coming off the exit in west DT usually merges onto 6th which passes in front of the Convention Center, City Hall, Court House, ONEOK, Bank of America, Petroleum Club, etc.  These streets will see a good portion if not the MAJORITY of traffic entering downtown, as folks from B.A. use the 7th street exit on the eastside IDL and folks coming from Jenks and Bixby would likely use the 7th street exit on the westside IDL.

Admittedly, I'm glad they are working on Denver as folks also have the option of exiting off the B.A. right at Denver, but the design of that off-ramp, where it comes to an immediate TEE is not conducive to moving 6,000-10,000 cars through to the arena.  The 7th street exits are much better for the heaviest loads.

Who made the final decisions on which streets get worked on first?  As someone who has BEGGED for somekind of street rehab. in downtown for ages, I'm glad to see any work getting done at all.  In the end, it ALL needs to be improved and certainly the roads CLOSER to the arena need to be focused on prior to the opening.  I just think we have to remember that 90 percent of folks will be coming to events from the HIGHWAYS, and 1st and 2nd streets are not currently the exits of choice for most Tulsa drivers coming into downtown.

[Hoss]

quote:Originally posted by perspicuity85

quote:Originally posted by Chris

444 is the highway number given to part of the IDL. It is technically a business route of I-44

Technically the east and south parts of the IDL are 444.  For a previous employer, I once viewed the original construction/engineering plans for the IDL.  When the signage was being installed in the 1970's, ODOT eliminated 444 from any road signs because they thought it would confuse motorists.  Remember I-244, US 412, SH-51, US 64, and US 75 are all a part of the IDL already.  In the original interstate plan for Tulsa, Riverside Dr. was to be paved over by interstate 444 until it connected with I-44 near 51st St.  Obviously that alignment caused much opposition from residents near Riverside, and US 75 was developed as the north-south freeway out of downtown instead.

I'm actually kind of a 'road geek'; I-444 is registered with the Interstate Highway System, but it is unsigned.  A reference to that fact can be found at http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/ix44.html#444ok