The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

The awful stoplight situation on highway 75 in durant is finally going to be fixed. Not sure how much time this will save but for those of us who travel there this is a delight to see.

http://m.newsok.com/durant-corridor-to-get-120m-in-improvements/article/5509197?rotator=true

Next they need to fix Okmulgee and Henryetta.

It’s been so long since I’ve taken that route to Dallas I guess I was unaware that had become really bad.  Is it near the casino down there where the snarl is?

I was always used to about a four hour commute from my house in south Tulsa to my company’s HQ in Irving about a mile from the old Texas Stadium.  I thought that was quite reasonable for a 250’ish mile drive.  That was back in the late ‘90s though.  It’s probably been at least five years since the last time I took that route and I didn’t remember it being all that bad.

The first major improvements were all on the TX side of the drive. When they finished the redo of North Central Expwy. through Dallas, and then the bypass around Sherman Denison saved a good 20 minutes at least off of that portion of the drive once you got south of Calera.

Yep, right around the casino with the worst light being the one right at it.

and Glenpool.

Don’t forget Atoka then.

This is one heavily traveled route which would have benefitted being in the national interstate system when it was created.

They should have built the turnpike to Durant instead of Hugo from McAlester, but I'm sure there was a "good ole boy" state representative that got it routed  the way it is, just like the Wellston entrance and exit on the Turner.

That was Gene Stipe’s neck of the woods.  In addition to being the senator of district 7 which includes Pittsburg County he owned businesses in the district south of there where the turnpike ran.  The turnpike was opened in 1969 and Stipe had been in the Senate for about 12 years at that time.  Pretty easy math.

Why have turnpikes at all ?   Build decent roads - out of concrete - that last, pay for them through straightforward, direct state funding without all the opportunity for graft/corruption/cronyism/favoritism of a turnpike authority...  Oh, wait...almost forgot....it's Okrahoma.  And the people we vote for.

Ah yes, Gene Stipe, the man that's been indicted more times than I've been married.......

Good ole fashioned, good ole boy Dixiecrat.


Just like all the state's county commissioners who were indicted/convicted several decades ago.  And should be again....

It doesn’t stop graft or corruption by getting rid of OTA.  Just think how bad our roads would be if we didn’t have a pay-as-you-go system here for some of the improved highways!

That's true.  Senator Charlie Ford was my first introduction to the "good ole boy" network way of doing the greasing the palms thing back in the 70's.  It has always been around and always will be.  County Commissioners are another ongoing, everlasting gobstopper of graft and corruption that we allow to stay in play decades after indictments and convictions of dozens.

Or, perhaps we would have educated ourselves sooner on what is going on and started to make changes earlier...?   Doubtful.  One thing that is NOT in doubt is that the OTA is a quiet little "backwater" slush fund that keeps billions of dollars of activity more out of the public eye than in.  Off budget, out of sight, out of mind.  Everyone hears about the budget woes - it's in the news a lot.  How often do you hear about all the money slinging around for the last 60 years in the private, smoke-filled, good-ole-boy network, backrooms of the OTA??

I'd like to see a high speed train from Tulsa direct to Fort Worth.

An indirect connection is in the Federal Railroad Administrations longterm strategic plan.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/High_Speed_Rail_07-09-2009.JPG)

With Tulsa as a dead-end,
Unless you just want to go to Texas.  Everyone from Oklahoma wants to go to Texas.  Would just hate to go to Chicago.

Connection from Tulsa to KC would give easy access to a lot of area for a lot of people - not just OK, but TX to north and east, too.




I don't expect that much 'vision' from anything Federal.... Lowered Expectations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3flv5nWZgII

But with what the map shows you can get to Chicago from Tulsa, just tak the one to Dallas and then two to three other trains and possibly an additional day or so but you get there eventually. Just don't plan a trip to the west coast or PNW, that may take closer to a week or more.

I think it's a big deal Tulsa's even pinpointed...frankly, I'm a little surprised.

Completely agree, (was being a little sarcastic) but the weak link seems to be the OKC to Dallas stretch, or have they found money in the budget to support that route? I know I read about the possibility of it going away. I know that Caltrans is working on the LA to Sacramento, and they are supposed going to start on the LA to Las Vegas route soon. Both of those I know will see a lot of rider ship especially the LA/Vegas route. But I also think a route to KC is a good idea even if it's not high speed because it does open up to more connections.

I have to assume that anyone controlled by petroleum interests will do their best to shoot down anything like this for Oklahoma.

Very cool.  I'm guessing estimated construction date is 2196 just after we invent teleporation packs.

Glenpool is down to one stoplight that doesn't effect traffic near as much as Okmulgee and Henrietta do.

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3koOUFp4crU/mqdefault.jpg)