I'm listening today to various news reports about a $2 million contract having been awarded to a local engineering firm to manage the relocation of the I-40 Crosstown in central Oklahoma City - and am amused at the consistent, off-handed reference to the existing Crosstown as "crumbling."

The phrase "the crumbling Crosstown" has unmistakably euphonious ring to it - but is the Crosstown REALLY "crumbling?" Is it REALLY in far worse condition than any number of other Oklahoma bridges? If it is, the folks who use it daily are in a lot of trouble. It'll be at least 5 years before it can be replaced.

A few years ago, a conversation with a now-retired bridge division chief at ODOT revealed that the existing Crosstown could be refitted with modern, corrosion-resistant materials to serve perhaps another 40 years for only about $25 million. Today, when I ask current ODOT bridge division experts about this, I more often than not get the sad plea, "Tom, please don't ask us to comment on that. You know the fellow you quote was and is completely reliable - but you also know all of us here at the Department are under tremendous pressure to sell the "New Crosstown" project."

Over the years a LOT of hyperbolic rhetoric has come from spokespeople at ODOT and others regarding the existing Crosstown and plans for its replacement. It's been strongly, consistently implied that the Crosstown is a safety risk; even Congressman Ernest J. Istook recently claimed "it's about to fall down." With the pressure that abounds to "sell" the project, is it any wonder?

ODOT spokespersons have said "the current Crosstown is beyond its design life." Not so. The structure of the elevated portion was built to the conservative 50 year federal standard. The Crosstown was opened in 1966 - it's only 37 years old.

"Without the Crosstown, the strategic cross-country I-40 Corridor is incomplete," they've said. Not so. I-240 and I-44 are probably better paths through town - especially for cross-country freight haulers, enabling them to avoid downtown commuter traffic and the infamous Ft. Smith Junction.

"Studies have been done," others have said, indicating the OKC Union Station yard, which will be completely destroyed by the highway project, isn't particularly important to future transport options such as the light rail project OKC leaders are now pushing for. In fact, in the context of the "New Crosstown" project, ODOT never looked, in even a superficial way, at what might be done with the elegant existing rail yard and its connections - nor has any formal study ever taken place to support the absurd claim that "the downtown former Santa Fe depot could serve as a viable center for rail transit development."

The upshot of it all? Oklahomans should understand that powerful special interests have pushed this project from the beginning. They want what they want for reasons of their own - and they want the taxpayers to pay for it. In fact, ODOT probably HAS enough money right now to refit and refurbish the existing Crosstown.

Do you think the widely reported $5 million deficit on the "Capitol Dome" is a scandal? The Dome is a fine example of the "kitty on the limb" school of government - "get the kitty out on the limb," get construction underway - and leave the people no choice but to pay for its monetary rescue. Is "build it and they will pay" good government? Why is ODOT so hot to begin actual construction on the east end of the "New Crosstown," reportedly in February 2004, without full funding for its completion being available? Why shouldn't Oklahoma taxpayers - already stung by such nonsense as "the Capitol Dome" - demand that every dollar for possible construction of the "New Crosstown" be accounted for before construction begins?

Is the old Crosstown "crumbling" any more than other portions of the Oklahoma road system - or other Oklahoma bridges?

Is the Oklahoma media comprised of independent thinkers dedicated to telling the public the truth - or is it a propaganda wing of the special interests that control so much of our state government?

Think about it.

TOM ELMORE
Tel: 794-7163

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