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The four-mile relocation project is
estimated in 2004 to cost $360 million. The project has
received federal appropriations of approximately $216.3
million in discretionary funds. Approximately $184.7
million of the appropriated funding has been encumbered
for engineering design efforts, first construction, and the acquisition of 190 of 205
needed parcels of land on the path of the new alignment.
The relocated segment will be 10 lanes wide and able to accommodate
173,000 vehicles per day. The current six-lane expressway between May Avenue
and the Ft. Smith junction was finished in 1965 and designed to carry 72,000
vehicles per day; it now averages about 120,000 vehicles per day.
The new highway will
be a combination of on-the-ground or semi-depressed roadway instead of the elevated
thoroughfare presently in place. The existing highway will be replaced with a new
downtown boulevard designed to enhance visitors’ first impression of Oklahoma City.
The existing Crosstown will continue to be used while the new facility is being
built, resulting in very few construction delays for motorists. Additional enhancement
features are planned for inclusion that will benefit the nearby communities, including a
park, a pedestrian bridge, and a sound wall. First drafts of concepts for overpasses at
Western, Walker, Robinson and Shields have been developed and are being refined.
Status: All design contracts for the new interstate have been approved by ODOT and
designs are progressing on all parts of the mainline interstate project. Construction began
with a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 14, 2005, with bridges over the south end of the
Bricktown Canal. Construction is now underway. Assuming full federal funding,
the projected completion date is expected to be late 2008 or early 2009.
The project received commitments from Congress for an additional $130 million in
federal funding over five years in the transportation bill passedin July 2005.
So far, ODOT has received approximately $35 million of that new funding.
[B]Contact: John Bowman, ODOT; (405) 522-6611,
jbowman@odot.org[
yup at grade or semi-depressed.