The Oklahoma City Crosstown Expressway, aka I-40 Crosstown, is a roughly stretch of
Interstate 40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...
(I-40) just south of Downtown Oklahoma City, running along the
Oklahoma River
The North Canadian River is a river, long, in Oklahoma in the United States. It is a tributary of the Canadian River, draining an area of U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset/Watershed Boundary Dataset, area data covering North ...
between Agnew Avenue and the I-40/I-35/I-235 ''Crossroads of America'' junction. Prior to 2012, the I-40 Crosstown was an elevated stretch that bisected downtown. The Oklahoma City Crosstown is the de facto east–west artery through Oklahoma City, serving as an unofficial dividing line between north and south Oklahoma City (the official dividing line for address purposes is Sheridan Avenue). It is owned and maintained by the
Oklahoma Department of Transportation
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) is an government agency, agency of the government of Oklahoma responsible for the construction and maintenance of the state's transportation infrastructure. Under the leadership of the Oklahoma Sec ...
(ODOT).
Context
Oklahoma City Crosstown Bridge
The Oklahoma City Crosstown was the busiest of Oklahoma's many aging bridges. While the Crosstown Expressway was designed to withstand about 76,000 vehicles a day,
by 2010 it was used by nearly 120,000 vehicles a day.
The Crosstown was completed in the 1960s using an engineering process commonly termed as "
fracture critical
The National Bridge Inventory (NBI) is a database, compiled by the Federal Highway Administration, with information on all bridges and tunnels in the United States that have roads passing above or below them. That is similar to the grade-crossing ...
",
a process that has not been used since the 1970s because it does not provide
redundancies. According to Brian Windsor, an ODOT structural engineer, without redundant support, the failure of a single beam created the risk of total collapse of that section of bridge. The entire stretch of the original I-40 Crosstown Expressway was elevated, and at some points, the elevation was as much as 50 feet (15.2 m).
According to a 2006 report, Oklahoma led the nation with 6,299 "structurally deficient" bridges. Attention to the Crosstown project increased after the
collapse of a stretch of I-35W in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 1, 2007. At that time, ODOT released a statement indicating that the condition of the Crosstown was "deteriorating", but that it "remained safe."
Concerns about whether the Crosstown Bridge would last until its 2012 replacement date increased on September 23, 2007, when a hole in the Crosstown resulted in closure of all but one lane and created significant traffic delays. Other safety problems of the Crosstown included falling chunks of concrete and a lack of
breakdown lane
A shoulder, hard shoulder (British) or breakdown lane, is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right side in countries which drive on the right, and on the left side in countries which drive on the left. Many wid ...
s. In an August 2007 poll sponsored by ''
The Oklahoman
''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th larges ...
'', nearly of respondents indicated that they were "afraid to drive across the Crosstown bridge in Oklahoma City".
Status
On January 5, 2012 eastbound traffic was transferred to the new alignment of the I-40 Crosstown Expressway, with westbound following on February 19. The original I-40 Crosstown Expressway bridge has since been removed.
As of 2020 a new boulevard in its place has been completed.
Relocation Project
History
In May 2002, federal funding was secured to finance replacement of the Oklahoma City Crosstown. Rather than replace the existing structure, a new stretch of I-40 would be constructed about five
blocks south of the then current location. Initial estimates of the Crosstown replacement project were that the project would take 8 years with a completion date of 2010, and would cost $360 million. The most recent revision to this estimate was released in July 2007, and indicated that the project will be completed in 2012 and will cost $557 million. The ground-level boulevard to replace the current Crosstown bridges is no longer included in the cost estimates. The new Crosstown will have ten lanes for traffic traveling at . It is being designed to carry 170,000 vehicles per day, and will have shoulders for disabled vehicles. Over 95% of current traffic on the Crosstown is through traffic, not transferring to or from downtown streets.
![I-40 Crosstown median](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/I-40_Crosstown_median.JPG)
More recently, the Crosstown project has come under serious controversy. In an era of fluctuating energy prices and changing circumstances, several citizen's groups are challenging the project.
Devon Energy
Devon Energy Corporation is an energy company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States. It is organized in Delaware and its corporate operative headquarters are in the 50-story Devon Energy Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Its ...
announced in March 2008 it would construct a one million square foot office tower in the center of a revitalized downtown to house between 2,000 and 3,000 of its employees. The Devon location will be ten blocks away from the interstate instead of four blocks, resulting in increased congestion on slower downtown streets during rush hour. Under current construction plans, part of Oklahoma City's Union Station railyard would be sacrificed to make space for the freeway, leading to concerns that this would disable the station from use in future light rail, commuter rail or traffic circulation use. An unprecedented ruling in June 2008 by the Federal Surface Transportation Board held that the BNSF railway made fraudulent representations in their request for abandonment of the freight line that would enable the Crosstown, and denied the abandonment. However, in May 2009 the final decision from the STB reversed the earlier ruling, allowing the ODOT to move ahead with their plans.
ODOT had not sought to redirect semitrailers off the former I-40 stretch of deteriorating overpasses. ODOT Director Gary Ridley said the then current I-40 will "absolutely" survive through 2012, the completion date for the realignment, adding, "If we felt there was anything wrong that would cause us concern, we would close it, and we wouldn't think twice about it." However, in a filing with STB, Ridley urged a quick ruling because "new serious issues including cracks in fracture critical members are constantly being discovered and repaired. The condition and obsolescence of the existing bridges constitutes serious concern for the Department." Other highway connections, running east and west, include I-240 and I-44.
Timeline
# January 1996: Citizens advisory committee formed.
# December 1998:
ODOT chooses route for new Crosstown
# February 7, 2001: Formal
public hearing
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency or a legislative committee.
Description
A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and o ...
held at the
Myriad Convention Center
Prairie Surf Studios (originally Myriad Convention Center and later Cox Convention Center) is a film production complex located in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was formerly a convention center and the home of several minor league teams.
...
.
# May 12, 2002: ODOT announces federal funding secured.
# May 13, 2002: Kick off meeting/
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...
.
# March 20, 2003: Acquisition of all occupied
residential
A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.
Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...
property completed.
# 2004: Railroad and utility relocations were to have begun.
# August 1, 2005: Construction contract awarded to
Muskogee Bridge Company.
# 2007: Construction was to have been completed on new alignment for I-40.
# January 2007: Surface Transportation Board approves railway abandonment application of Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (BNSF).
# July 2007: The first section of the new Crosstown Expressway: Three sections, including two long bridges and one railroad bridge were completed.
# May 2007: The State Convention of the Oklahoma Democratic Party adopted a resolution calling for a moratorium on construction and the appointment of a special commission to "consider alternatives that would preserve the Union railyard before any more public money is spent on this project."
# August 1, 2007:
Collapse of I-35 bridge in Minnesota
# September 20, 2007: Hole in Crosstown closed all but one lane of traffic and created significant traffic delays.
# November 29, 2007: Hole in Crosstown closed all but one lane of westbound traffic east of Robinson Avenue.
# March 14, 2008: Hole in Crosstown closed all but one lane of westbound traffic.
# March 28, 2008: Hole in Crosstown closed all but one lane of westbound traffic from the I-235 junction to Classen Boulevard.
# June 5, 2008: Surface Transportation Board reopens railway abandonment case and declares it void due to false statements made by BNSF.
# July 15, 2008: BNSF files petition with STB for relocation (instead of abandonment) of existing railway.
# September 20, 2008: ODOT Director Gary Ridley announced no funds are available to tear down the existing Crosstown Expressway as originally planned. He estimated the cost of demolition and removal to be an additional $100 million.
# September 24, 2008: The City Council of
Norman, Oklahoma
Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, Oklahoma, Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma C ...
, adopted a resolution requesting the Governor to appoint a commission to consider alternatives to removal of the Union Station railyard.
# October 6, 2008: The City Commission and the Economic Development of Authority of
Shawnee
The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...
, Oklahoma, adopted resolutions requesting Governor
Brad Henry
Charles Bradford Henry (born July 10, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician who was the 26th governor of Oklahoma from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected governor in 2002. Henry won re-election for a second term ...
, a native of Shawnee, to appoint a commission to consider alternatives to removal of the Union Station railyard. In addition to Norman, the cities of Chickasha and El Reno have also passed similar resolutions.
# October 20, 2008: The Shawnee City Commission by a 5–2 vote denied a request by ODOT officials to reconsider the resolution.
# April 7, 2009: Another hole and a loose expansion joint in Crosstown closed all but one lane of westbound traffic between the I-235 junction and Classen Boulevard
# January 5, 2012: Eastbound lanes were transferred to the new alignment.
# February 17, 2012: Completion date for new Crosstown Expressway
Neighborhood displacement
Under the original Environmental Impact Statement, residents of two neighborhoods were to be displaced by construction of the new Crosstown Expressway. Construction resulted in the demolition of 165 properties in the Walnut Grove and Riverside neighborhoods. The realignment will now directly result in reconstruction of in Phase I and an additional in Phase II, for a total of in the core of Oklahoma City.
Future land use (Core To Shore)
After the completion of the new I-40 Crosstown, the existing bridge was demolished. While ODOT is responsible for the relocation of the I-40 Crosstown and the subsequent demolition of the existing structure, the city of Oklahoma City will take the lead in determining the future use of the land currently occupied by the existing crosstown. On June 20, 2006, the Oklahoma City Council
announced a $387,000 contract for professional consulting services with the
URS Corporation
URS Corporation (formerly United Research Services) was an engineering, design, and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, URS was a full-service, global organization with office ...
"to recommend specific actions to facilitate redevelopment within the area impacted by the relocation of the downtown section of I-40, Reno Avenue, new I-40 alignment, Western Avenue and I-35/I-235"
On October 5, 2006, Oklahoma City Mayor
Mick Cornett
Michael Earl Cornett Sr. (born July 16, 1958) is an American politician and former television personality who served as the 35th mayor of Oklahoma City, from 2005 until 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he was only the fourth mayor in O ...
introduced the 'Core to Shore' project team which has the task of "planning and developing the area south of downtown and north of the
Oklahoma River
The North Canadian River is a river, long, in Oklahoma in the United States. It is a tributary of the Canadian River, draining an area of U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset/Watershed Boundary Dataset, area data covering North ...
where Interstate 40 currently runs."
This team consists of community leaders as well as representatives from URS Corp.
Exit List
References
External links
Core to Shore Planning Project(City of Oklahoma City)
(Oklahoma Department of Transportation)
(Oklahoma Department of Transportation)
Official site for the I-40 Relocation Project(Oklahoma Department of Transportation)
I-40 Crosstownat Abandoned Oklahoma
{{Commons category-inline
Interstate 40
Interstate Highways in Oklahoma