About 1,800 steel beams from the nearly 50-year-old structure will be used in building as many as 300 county bridges.
NewsOK
BY MICHAEL MCNUTT mmcnutt@opubco.com
Published: January 15, 2012
Parts of the elevated Interstate 40 Crosstown, which should be gone from view later this year, will be used to build county bridges across the state. Steel beams from the nearly 50-year-old structure will be used in building as many as 300 county bridges.
“We think that's a great deal for the taxpayers,” Deputy Transportation Department Director Gary Evans said. “It's a great deal to re-task those beams. It shows how state government and county government can work together.
“We never have had in the past the opportunity on this large a scale to be able to do something like this.”
There are about 4,300 structurally deficient county bridges.
“It's the only bridge of its kind in Oklahoma, so being able to repurpose those beams is definitely advantageous to the counties,” said Randy Robinson, executive director of the Oklahoma Cooperative Circuit Engineering Districts Board, an organization that works with county commissioners on engineering projects for roads and bridges. “There are plenty of opportunities out there that they'll be able to use these.”
Work on disassembling the elevated Crosstown is expected to start in several weeks, or shortly after westbound traffic on the bridge is rerouted to the new Crosstown. The 10-lane highway opened to eastbound traffic earlier this month... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sun, January 15, 2012
by John Cox