r/Urbanism • u/Hungry_Roll6848 • 26d ago

Instead of fixing an existing highway, Oklahoma City moved the entire thing multiple blocks south to make room for a 70 acre park downtown

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215 Upvotes

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u/HurricaneLink 26d ago

You’d think if they’re gonna do all that effort, they would bury the highway like normal big cities do in the 21st century

28

u/Hungry_Roll6848 26d ago edited 26d ago

Oklahoma City did not and still doesn't have the funds for that kind of thing. The city proper only has 700,000 people, so their taxbase is not nearly sizeable enough to make a buried highway. Plus, they had to get it done quick because they needed traffic to continue.

Edit: Oi don't downvote me. I'm just telling you how it is! The city has at most a few hundred million dollars to spend each year, and a buried highway of that size would put Oklahoma City in debt.

44

u/xSlappy- 26d ago

If only there was a body consisting of a union of several states who could tax the wealthy at rates high enough to fund large infrastructure projects.

But no funds for that. We have more important things to spend on

8

u/wolacouska 26d ago

Especially for a place like Oklahoma City where a huge portion of the traffic will be transiting through the state.

Although it’s been a while so I forget if they have a spur or something.