The Oklahoma Department of Transportation just completed a comment period for a project to six-lane U.S. Interstate 35 from the State Highway 74 interchange to the Cleveland County line, and I-35 from one mile south of Ladd Road north 4.15 miles to the SH-74 interchange.
ODOT states that the purpose and need of the project are to improve the operational capacity of I-35 to accommodate existing and future traffic volumes, improve safety, and enhance local and regional connectivity.
During a discussion of the project during the January Newcastle City Council meeting, Mayor Karl Nail said ODOT has already done the Ladd Road bridge reconstruction, but they’ll have other bridges to reconstruct. He also mentioned the project to reconfigure the State Highway 9 interchange at I-35.
“By that time the SH-9 and I-35 interchange will be well built and everything taken care of there,” Nail said.
In a letter from ODOT Environmental Programs Division Manager Joe Brutsché to the City, Brutsché states that the current four-lane roadway requires improvements to accommodate the existing traffic volume and for safety enhancement. The project will include the addition of one 12-foot lane to traffic in each direction and widening of the inside shoulders to 10-feet with a median barrier wall in the center median along the length of the projects.
Brutsché states that the interchange ramps at Ladd Road, SH-74, and SH-9W will be modified as necessary to connect to the widened roadway.
Brutsché said the road will remain open and construction phased to maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction. Construction will be done in two phases — or packages. The north package, from the northbound on-ramp at SH-74 in Goldsby to the Cleveland County line is scheduled to begin construction in 2023. The south package, extending approximately one mile south of Ladd Road, is to scheduled to begin construction in 2025.
Written comments were accepted by ODOT through yesterday (Wednesday). Anyone who has questions on the project can contact authorized consultant Russell Beaty, PE, of Olsson Associates at 405-242-6600 or [email protected], or ODOT’s Environmental Project Manager Amanda Alexander at 405-521-2312 or [email protected].
