The Oklahoma City Crosstown Expressway, aka I-40 Crosstown, is a roughly 5 mi stretch of Interstate 40 (I-40) just south of Downtown Oklahoma City, running along the Oklahoma River 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 (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", 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 in August 2007 after the collapse of the I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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 lanes. In an August 2007 poll sponsored by The Oklahoman, nearly 2/3 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 60 mi/h. 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. 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 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

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 590 acre in Phase I and an additional 785 acre in Phase II, for a total of 1375 acre 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 "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 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 where Interstate 40 currently runs." This team consists of community leaders as well as representatives from URS Corp.

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