More Turnpikes

[CHenry]

Yeah kinda my point. 102/177. Two choices less than 10 minutes drive time farther east. Wondering why we had to start from scratch just a few miles closer in.

102 is a full access State Highway a Turnpike is very limited access thus the reason they can build it for 75 miles per hour that is the only thing I can think of for the reason for a Turnpike other than that I do not work for OTA and I cannot speak for them. My own opinion is it's a waste of money to build a Turnpike

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[deerwhacker444]

IMHO, there's no point to improving 102. It's just a couple of miles from 177, and they both already end up at Wellston--and 177 is a really nice road already.

Of course, you could say the same thing about a turnpike in general...

Why not redo I-177. Fences are moved way back, large right of ways. Only 1 stop at H62 between Wellston and Shawnee. Crazy to spend that kind of money on a turnpike when the road(s) are already there.

Yeah kinda my point. 102/177. Two choices less than 10 minutes drive time farther east. Wondering why we had to start from scratch just a few miles closer in.

I suspect because somebody who works in the DOT has a "Brother in Law" that owns a construction company.

They were going to widen the road between Meeker and Shawnee, about 5 miles, from 2 lanes to 4 lanes. Tore up everything, moved the fences back, widened the shoulders, installed new concrete culverts, did dozer-work, laid sod, took about 2 years and we ended up with 3/4 of a mile of 4 lane. The rest they put back as new 2 lane. Nice new 2 lane road, but had to be a Gigantic boondoggle for somebody.

 

[SoonerP226]

Why not redo I-177. Fences are moved way back, large right of ways. Only 1 stop at H62 between Wellston and Shawnee. Crazy to spend that kind of money on a turnpike when the road(s) are already there.

I'm just saying why I think they wouldn't redo 102 (its proximity to 177), not why I think they're pushing for their proposed route.

And if they turn 177 into a turnpike, I'm gonna whoop you good for suggesting it.

 

[CHenry]

102 is about to get a facelift as well. Go north and notice the utilities that have been moved back. That means final design is in and R/W has been acquired.

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[JxxxOxxxE]

As long as it's not another #%^*ing turnpike. We have enough of those stupid things.

Just a little FYI, the OTA has already been approved by your legislature for 25+ more projects granted some are just on/off ramps.

Here's the current website for this round of projects, http://www.drivingforwardok.com, there are 6 projects listed there...


Oklahoma ranks 2nd in the nation in miles of toll roads...We may hop to 1st after this round of projects....Don't forget we're 48th in education....

IMHO, there's no point to improving 102. It's just a couple of miles from 177, and they both already end up at Wellston--and 177 is a really nice road already.

Of course, you could say the same thing about a turnpike in general...

From my experience, 102 north from 62 is in pretty bad shape. 177 on the other hand is extremely nice compared to most roads around here. I think the speed limit is even 65 mph...

Yeah kinda my point. 102/177. Two choices less than 10 minutes drive time farther east. Wondering why we had to start from scratch just a few miles closer in.

The OTA has kind of changed their stance a few times already on why we need this eastern loop. Economic Development, then Safety somehow with rural road accident stats, and now they are pushing I35 traffic relief as the reason for it.

Without looking back for their specific answer, I believe OTA said 177 was too far east to provide the I35 traffic relief. They also cant convert an existing road to a turnpike for some reason, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me since they can convert my farmland to a turnpike.....?






Even though I'm obviously biased now that its planned to pass through my property, I've been against it since it was announced and was to be 1.5 miles west of me....The more info that I come across about the OTA, the shadier they seem. Taking land, manipulating numbers, changing info, never being paid off, appointed members, the list goes on....


I've even gone as far to file to run for my ward city council seat. Ive been attending the meetings for years as a citizen so I figure I may as well try to sit on the other side of the tables. Our council has thrown the citizens under the bus on this deal. They all voted for the resolution to the OTA, but after talking to 2 of them personally in the last month, I had 1 say they weren't in support of the turnpike, and another admit there was no discussion about passing the resolution, just a quick vote....

 

[SMS]

I've even gone as far to file to run for my ward city council seat. Ive been attending the meetings for years as a citizen so I figure I may as well try to sit on the other side of the tables. Our council has thrown the citizens under the bus on this deal. They all voted for the resolution to the OTA, but after talking to 2 of them personally in the last month, I had 1 say they weren't in support of the turnpike, and another admit there was no discussion about passing the resolution, just a quick vote....

Kudos to you. That is how real change can be made, more so than meetings and us ranting on the web.

I know we are growing and we need infrastructure to support that growth but the way this was handled doesn't pass the smell test. Zero public involvement until the area of interest was already picked and set in motion.

I know the planners have a plan but I LOL at their "I-35" relief excuse every time I'm standing still at the I-40/240/Choctaw road area....yeah, let's relieve I-35 and put more traffic there. How about more than one or two lanes merging from 40 to 35? How about the inexplicable 60mph speed limit on the 4 lanes of 35 south of Frontier City and on the new section of 40 south of downtown? I'd like to see the big picture presented to the public instead of being spoon fed little pieces of it.

 

[JxxxOxxxE]

Kudos to you. That is how real change can be made, more so than meetings and us ranting on the web.

I know we are growing and we need infrastructure to support that growth but the way this was handled doesn't pass the smell test. Zero public involvement until the area of interest was already picked and set in motion.

Honestly its quite sad how there is not much citizen involvement on the small town level. When I go to a lot of our city council meetings, I'm the only non staff citizen there...

I know the planners have a plan but I LOL at their "I-35" relief excuse every time I'm standing still at the I-40/240/Choctaw road area....yeah, let's relieve I-35 and put more traffic there. How about more than one or two lanes merging from 40 to 35? How about the inexplicable 60mph speed limit on the 4 lanes of 35 south of Frontier City and on the new section of 40 south of downtown? I'd like to see the big picture presented to the public instead of being spoon fed little pieces of it.

They have an answer to that too. Its that ODOT will have to fix those things after the turnpike is in...The talk has been for a few years now about ODOT expanding I40 from 4 lanes to 6 lanes from Midwest City to the Harrah Newalla Rd exit. If you've seen the state budget lately, I dont foresee it in happening in the near future...Maybe its already budgeted, I don't know...

 

[SoonerP226]

From my experience, 102 north from 62 is in pretty bad shape. 177 on the other hand is extremely nice compared to most roads around here. I think the speed limit is even 65 mph...

177 between I-40 and Wellston is one of the nicest two-lanes in the state. Heck, it's actually pretty nice all the way down to Asher, at least.

The speed limit is 65, but most of the times I've driven it, what little traffic there was moved faster than that--you can do 70mph and not have to pass very many people at all.

BTW, when I said I don't see the point in improving it, I don't mean it doesn't need to be improved, just that I don't see the point in converting it to a turnpike. The one time I made the mistake of taking 102 from Wellston to I-40 was enough to convince me that I didn't want to do it again.

I've even gone as far to file to run for my ward city council seat.

Good luck. I absolutely hate eminent domain and the way it gets used, and I'm not a real big fan of the OTA, either. About 15 years ago, I attended similar meetings regarding a project in Norman where they were threatening condemnation of property, and I was about reading to start boiling tar and plucking chickens for the city attorney. The difference was that my ward councilman and county commissioner were both opposed to the project, not so much because of the project itself, but because of how it was being pursued (some of the reps trying to acquire the rights of way were actually threatening property owners with condemning their property and taking it anyway in their initial meetings).

Oddly enough, about the time they worked out a compromise, the whole thing collapsed. I'm not sure why, but I think there was an event that affected it--their meeting with DEQ was scheduled for September 11, 2001...

At any rate, best of luck in your election and your fight against the turnpike. I'm not sure I can offer any more than moral support, but you'll at least have that.

 

[Hump66]

Proposed route.

Crap. Well I'm officially not wanting it if they choose the eastern route at the north end. That is on the in-laws property that we were planning to build a home on. Double crap. At least I've heard from others on the route that they are paying quite well for the land they're buying.

 

[SMS]

I didn't think anyone had been made an offer yet...since the route is not final. Interesting.

Part of the trouble with building opposition is exactly as stated above. People look at the map and say "well, they're not taking my place" and walk away or "damn, they're taking my place".

This thing has been handled poorly since the beginning. OTA and the state decided this was happening and then told people how it was going down. No public discussion, no votes. Everyone should be opposing it just for that, whether they're in the path or not.