Officials expect work to begin on the widening of the Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City to begin in April. The segment between Eastern Avenue and MacArthur Boulevard will be widened to three lanes in each direction as part of a project expected to last up to two years.
NewsOK
BY MICHAEL KIMBALL mkimball@opubco.com
Published: January 18, 2012
Oklahoma City Council members Tuesday encouraged the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to consider a possible commuter rail line in the upcoming Kilpatrick Turnpike widening project and expressed interest in an eventual southward expansion of the freeway.
Officials from the authority, the state Transportation Department and BNSF Railway are working to accommodate a potential new BNSF track at a bridge near the Broadway Extension that will be replaced as part of the widening project.
Council members said they hope the bridge also will have room for a future light rail service that could connect parts of the sprawling metro.
“It would be a shame to redo that bridge and then have to come along 10 years later and have to redo it again,” Ward 2Councilman Ed Shadid said.
Tim Stewart, the Turnpike Authority's deputy director who briefed council members on the widening project at their weekly meeting, said officials haven't considered allowing room for a commuter rail line in the bridge design because there are no concrete plans for the service... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Wed, January 18, 2012
by John Cox