The John Kilpatrick Turnpike (JKT) is a major thoroughfare in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that provides quick and easy access around the city for residents of northern Oklahoma City. The Turnpike is a heavily traveled corridor with several retail developments, hospitals, and neighborhoods located alongside the corridor.

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Although originally developed to be widened in the future, the Turnpike contained multiple key elements that were not designed to account for the future widening of the roadway. This created several opportunities for innovative problem solving to make the median widening feasible throughout the length of the project. One of the key elements to the success of this project was the unique reconfiguration of the Lake Hefner Ramp over JKT. This is a heavily traveled ramp that is essential for daily commuters into downtown Oklahoma City. The existing bent in the center of the JKT travel lanes was radial to the ramp and would not allow for widening to the center due to a lack of vertical clearance under the hammerhead bent.

 

The innovative solution involved reconfiguring this median bent to be oriented parallel to traffic along JKT. The original beam configuration of the ramp included a two-span steel unit and a single span steel unit with an existing expansion joint at this bent location. The bent configuration required combining the two-span steel girder unit and single steel girder span into a continuous three-span steel girder unit by removing a portion of the existing slab and girders and installing two splices. This type of conversion was a first for the State of Oklahoma. In addition, the existing bent cap was removed, and a new three-column bent was placed at a 57-degree skew incorporating the existing column and foundations.

 

By combining the existing steel girder units into a three-span girder unit and reconfiguring the bent cap to be parallel to the JKT traffic, our team kept the overall construction on the ramp to under 90 days, significantly reduced construction costs and delivered an aesthetically pleasing, safer route.

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Services Provided:

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• Structural Assessment

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• Bridge Design

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• Roadway Design

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• Traffic Control Planning

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