Oklahoma County is notorious for failing to budget in weather damage and replacement of infrastructure that was worn out long ago. It’s now a couple of months since a collection of very heavy rain storms damaged the Vickie Drive bridge over Crutcho Creek. This is a critical artery for truck traffic, but the county can’t be bothered. They brought in sufficient dirt to fill the hole, but simply used it to block traffic, dumping it across the road. Who knows when they’ll finish the job?
OKC can be slow about some things, but it has more to do with the politics of who notices, and who gets public credit. This image is the North Canadian River alongside the West River Trail. I chose Thursday to test myself, and to some degree, the new Forte bicycle by taking a 50-mile loop around the Metro. The bike did fine. It’s slower than riding a conventional bike, but it’s not much harder in terms of the physical challenge. I managed it well enough, but I was very tired and very hot before I got back home.
The West River Trail runs along the shore of Crystal Lake. This is the first year I can recall seeing homeless people camping out in the open by the lake. You can’t really see it, but they show up in the upper left of the image, out on a spit of land. They weren’t causing any trouble, but it’s a symbol of just how many there are, and their numbers are increasing significantly this year. The entire river portion of the ride saw everything from sleeping rough on the ground to really nice tents all properly set up and neatly kept camping situations. A surprising number were sleeping in or next to vehicles.
This OG&E’s Mustang Road generating plant. It’s so imposing, a jarringly huge structure in such a beautiful setting. At least the structure isn’t inherently ugly; it’s no worse than the picturesque railroad bridge, giving the view some character. This point is about as far west as the massive loop of bikeways goes. I’m just a few miles from where the North Canadian River passes through Lake Overholser. The generating plant doesn’t use water pressure; it’s gas fired and uses the lake as water supply.
It took longer than a year to build this bikeway overpass above the Northwest Expressway in OKC. Then, they kept it locked up for a few more months until the right people were ready to let it open to public passage. That came during the past two months, and I don’t think it even made much more than a blip in the local news. I took this shot after riding over it. This end is one long slope parallel to the roadway, but the other end is a jagged corkscrew because there was no place to put a long ramp.
After this point, I was getting too hot and tired to think much about taking pictures. I don’t regret it, but I’m not likely to try it again.
What in the world is that really wide v-shape on the bridge? I guess it’s part of the design?
Those washouts are scary. We had huge one in downtown Pgh a few years ago, though I don’t know if it was because of water damage. It almost swallowed a passenger bus…mostly empty, and the one passenger had minor injuries. I was able to see it before the repairs really started. Crazy how much “stuff” is underneath streets. The whole thing did create some funny products from a few creative minds: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/remembering-the-downtown-sinkhole-one-year/
The v-shape is merely decorative.
We’ve had some sinkholes that were caused by water utility lines leaking, but I don’t recall anything that dramatic.