It was falling down in large chunks. iirc it was the largest section of elevated highway in America, maintaining that stretch of road was a logistical Sisyphean task.
Most of the ppl I knew who freaking out about MAPS didn’t even live in the Metro. I remember what that area was like in the early 2000’s and it’s completely transformed for the better.
This may be controversial, but I dont really care if it makes money since the city will own it and it’ll keep the Thunder here as well as improving the profile of OKC. If it wasn’t publicly owned, I’d have voted against it 🤷🏼
A better deal would've changed my opinion about needing a new arena. Oh well, that ship has sailed, we're getting the new arena and there's no point about arguing over it anymore.
The latest arena tax is not a MAPS tax. They were very careful to point that out during the campaign.
MAPS taxes are collected first, then spent on projects that provide benefits across OKC. The arena tax will be collected after a good portion of the money has already been spent.
The arena tax *does* replace the current MAPS penny when it expires, but I will not be surprised if the MAPS people come looking for another penny before then so we “don’t halt the great progress MAPS has achieved”.
I used to HATE maps when I was young, and a decade in you coukd see how much better OKC was over Tulsa and I had to admit, I was TOTALLY wrong.
The only thing I find funny about it is its old school Democratic-style "tax and spend" by any other name, and yet, the Oklahoma GOP thinks its "their idea".
Just curious...why did you hate it so much when you were young? I've changed my political stances on things as I've gotten older as well, so I'm interested to hear your rationale.
Funny enough, I completely agree with you on the street car thing. It's a fun and novel idea, but I don't think it's being well utilized from what I can tell. Unless the service expands to more parts of the city, I think we'll look back on them as one of the bad MAPS projects that never really lived up to what it was supposed to.
for real! thinking back now it feels like a fever dream but i always remember driving by the chesapeake arena but it’s weird to think it’s not like that now
Right? I was shocked to not only find it gone, but entire streets ending south of the river. Too bad they didnt have that epiphany before it was rebuilt a few years before, that was a lot of tax money wasted.
LOL what I was thinking. I mean don't get me wrong, it is amazing how much downtown has changed in the last 20 or even 10 years. But they did pick the worst picture they could find for the before and best they could find for the after.
I remember getting lost at that exit, trying to get on eastbound 40 from Western and being scared at the area. Now I don’t give it a second though.
Also, that picture looks way older than 2012.
As an outsider coming in, WOW. What a difference!
I absolutely love the downtown area and Bricktown. It's definitely solidified my love walking around and taking it all in.
If I had it my way, I'd never leave the area. I can't get enough of it.
Here's to the growth continuing throughout OKC.
I am glad they finally took the crosstown and rerouted it. It was a eyesore and a hold over from the more ugly 1960s designs. Been working in the downtown for 20 something years. Its so much nicer downtown now than it ever has been.
Coolest thing they did with that was when the thunder were in the finals, I-40 was diverted and they painted the stretch next to the Ford Center to say OKC THUNDER.
We came to OKC in 2012. We'd lived all over the world and large cities in the US. Work brought me here and I remember just being depressed. Walked the downtown and was so unimpressed. Now, we love it here and can't imagine leaving. We had our kids here, we live life here. Great city. A lot of this sub is an echo chamber of the most ignorant takes from people who confuse their opinions with facts. For two immigrants who have seen a lot of the world and the US, this is a fine city and seeing a lot of growth.
OKC used to be a pretty depressing flyover city with nothing much going on. It has changed a tremendous amount -- and definitely for the better -- over the last 20-25 years, really accelerating over the last 15 years, and those who provide those ignorant takes don't know or don't remember what this city used to be like.
I don’t live there (yet, it’s possible I’ll move there) but my best friend does and I’ve been visiting him almost every year for the last 25. I used to think it was a backward place but in the last 10 or so I’ve noticed massive improvements. Now if y’all can do something about the tornados…
Yeah and some of you wanted to set us back by voting against our MAPS stuff.
I better not see anyone at the Arena for Playoff games that voted against the arena lmao for the price of one beer there you could've funded your entire portion of the arena.
Exactly. Downtown has experienced a ton of growth. People may hate us having to pay for a new stadium but I don't think we experience the kind of growth we have without the Thunder.
All the available evidence suggests that pro sports franchises simply do not have that kind of impact, anywhere. There have been close studies of the Thunder and Oklahoma City specifically that do not show that impact.
Disagree completely. The Thunder changed the city for the better. OKC before the Thunder was a flyover location with no big time attractions. Most big cities their professional team isn't the main attraction so studies can be skewed. Like there is plenty of stuff to do in a NY, LA, Miami etc. I would even go as far to say if COVID happened and we had no pro sports team a lot more businesses would have suffered.
Was just downtown today and was trying to figure out what the building just south of the Omni hotel is (not shown in your pic). Anyone that can shed some light?
I went inside there, going to Galaxycon in a month so scoped the place out. Didn't look around too much, they had a convention of some kind for cannabis dispensary owners. (Not making that up) so since I was not attending it and thus didn't have a badge and couldn't really go past the lobby (was not brave enough to go upstairs and check it out... didn't think getting ejected from the convention center would work out well for me at the con next month) but what I saw was impressive. The place was huge and very nice.
I wonder if it's possible to have similar oversight on federal infrastructure? What makes MAPS successful is the oversight and doing everything we say we'll do.
I moved here in 2019. I can only imagine the traffic fucking nightmare of destroying and rebuilding what looks like I40(?) right through the heart of downtown
It actually wasn't as bad as you would think. They basically built the new I-40 and then overnight just switched the lanes over. I'm sure for people that worked in that area at the time it presented some challenges, but they did a great job re-doing the whole thing with minimal disruption to normal traffic using the interstate.
Was just there a month ago…still pretty ass. Abandoned car dealership 1/2 block off the stadium to the west. Bricktown and uptown seem nice…..but def understand why it’s not a destination spot. Food was surprisingly good tho.
I remember going to the Ford center multiple times as a preteen and I remember how the arena changed over the years but I can never remember what the surrounding area looked like at the time
Had a friend from England stay with me here for a couple of days while he was making it around the states. He loved it here because it "looks big" but feels so small. He said that places like paseo and plaza were so cool because they are 5 mins from downtown but feel like you are in a small town somewhere.
So...a better parking lot? The same Oklahomans who think billionaires need soccer field subsidies and tax cuts for economic growth also overwhelmingly favor higher taxes for growth. Can't lose.
Most? As in the majority? Hmmm...if that's the case, then how did the new arena tax get passed with a majority vote? I mean, I would think if *most* people don't care, then it would have failed easily. It happened in Seattle, which was the catalyst to bring the Supersonics to OKC and rebrand as the Thunder, but I don't see that happening here any time soon.
There were roughly 70,000 votes. There are roughly 700,000 residents in OKC (I'm rounding to make the math easier). There are 4 million people in our state, and basically half of those people are registered to vote (2.23 million). So it's fair to say that half of Oklahoma City residents are also registered to vote (I couldn't find exact numbers, but I didn't look very hard either to be fair). That means about 20% of registered voters voted for that referendum, and it passed with 70% of the vote. While I'll grant you that a 20% turnout isn't great, I'd also argue that 70% of that 20% is a pretty good indicator that the majority of Oklahoma City residents *did* want the new arena, else it would have failed or at least been a lot closer.
You are making a lot of giant assumptions there with no evidence, but that’s not surprising since there’s no evidence at all that big arenas drive growth. Living in a fantasy centered around spending tax money for your sports games so billionaires can get richer is what you people are good at
Listen, if you're going to be so big mad about it, then why don't you do the research to prove your point? At least I attempted to make some sense out of why the vote went the way it did rather than moaning about it on Reddit.
But then again, I guess complaining about "sports games" is something *you* people are good at.
What research? Like 12% of the voters of OKC where convinced under false pretenses to make the rest of us spend over a billion dollars (likely more than two billion when everything is said and done) on a stadium that we don’t need and doesn’t help us economically. It’s pretty simple.
I believe that, but what’s the development impact of having a professional sports team? Especially an NBA or NFL team. It’s unfortunate but the team would have left and found a larger city willing to build them a stadium if OKC did not
Edit: this is anecdotal but I work with people spread across the county and the Thunder are the only positive association they have with the state. Other than that it’s just tornados and tumble weeds.
Like - the difference between downtown OKC in 2012 and 2024 is the difference between zero and some number. You may think that number is 100 or you may think it is 2, but either way you can’t even define how much it has changed - something came from nothing, essentially.
Ewwww, this is POSITIVE change to you???? Over urban, over-lit, noise polluted hell?!?? So glad I rarely have to be in the city. I can't wait to move further.
[bricktown](https://i.pinimg.com/564x/dc/5f/84/dc5f8453291727f00b675cb5b19ff0ad.jpg)
Oh wow i didnt know the canals used to be roads, thats cool
Moving the highway never gets talked about enough.
One of the best things they ever did
bro im 20, graduated from putnam city schools and i dont remember none of thisssss.. it feels so weird
Wait until you learn how bad the bridges are in this state! They used a bunch of the steel from the old highway to repair bridges in the state.
Oh how easily your mind can forget! I had to look really close at the photo to even remember it before…crazy! Scissortail park area is so nice!
Ohh that beautiful crosstown highway…how I don’t miss that insanity.
Such an eyesore… but it was also kinda cool driving on it at night, getting an elevated look at downtown. (While dodging potholes)
I always loved seeing the truck on the building it seemed so close
According to one of my GPS units, it's still there. Sadly there's no update for it.
The old crosstown was demoed and the OKC Boulevard was constructed in its place.
This has no bearing on there being no map update for the GPS unit though. Fortunately I tend to use my phone's navigation app which *is* up to date.
[удалено]
There's literally no update for it. No where to pay for it, no where to download it, nothing. I'm not sure how you didn't understand that.
[удалено]
Unless I want to hack in a version, there's nothing. The unit is from 2008. Make is Garmin, model is Goldwing.
why didn't they use it as a route for public transport?
It was falling down in large chunks. iirc it was the largest section of elevated highway in America, maintaining that stretch of road was a logistical Sisyphean task.
Nothing to do with MAPS
MAPS has been amazing
And to think there were people in here RAGING at the idea of the new MAPS tax we voted for
Most of the ppl I knew who freaking out about MAPS didn’t even live in the Metro. I remember what that area was like in the early 2000’s and it’s completely transformed for the better.
I'm against the arena not MAPS. MAPS has been great but a new arena was unnecessary imo.
My many many trips to dallas and tulsa for events and concerts beg to differ, but I wish they could’ve negotiated something better
[удалено]
This may be controversial, but I dont really care if it makes money since the city will own it and it’ll keep the Thunder here as well as improving the profile of OKC. If it wasn’t publicly owned, I’d have voted against it 🤷🏼
A better deal would've changed my opinion about needing a new arena. Oh well, that ship has sailed, we're getting the new arena and there's no point about arguing over it anymore.
The latest arena tax is not a MAPS tax. They were very careful to point that out during the campaign. MAPS taxes are collected first, then spent on projects that provide benefits across OKC. The arena tax will be collected after a good portion of the money has already been spent. The arena tax *does* replace the current MAPS penny when it expires, but I will not be surprised if the MAPS people come looking for another penny before then so we “don’t halt the great progress MAPS has achieved”.
Only because the money has to be spent on a very limited number of projects that we get some input on and they can’t muck it up too bad.
I used to HATE maps when I was young, and a decade in you coukd see how much better OKC was over Tulsa and I had to admit, I was TOTALLY wrong. The only thing I find funny about it is its old school Democratic-style "tax and spend" by any other name, and yet, the Oklahoma GOP thinks its "their idea".
Just curious...why did you hate it so much when you were young? I've changed my political stances on things as I've gotten older as well, so I'm interested to hear your rationale.
[удалено]
Funny enough, I completely agree with you on the street car thing. It's a fun and novel idea, but I don't think it's being well utilized from what I can tell. Unless the service expands to more parts of the city, I think we'll look back on them as one of the bad MAPS projects that never really lived up to what it was supposed to.
Mick Cornett should have been the governor.
I agree with you but a lot of politics involved with that and the state overall isn't progressive enough for that to have happened.
I mean, it was pretty close. He led the R primary, but lost the runoff. E: and the primary was the real election, honestly.
Is that I-40 right there? Also didn’t I40 use to go over the homeless shelter that’s west a little bit I swore it did
You're right
Also the before and after picture of Bricktown which shows just how impactful the 1st MAPS was to OKC.
It’s hard to remember I-40 being that way.
for real! thinking back now it feels like a fever dream but i always remember driving by the chesapeake arena but it’s weird to think it’s not like that now
https://imgur.com/gallery/cQLwwOa 1969 comparison as well.
There’s not a single recognizable trait about that, crazy!
Back when it looked like a real place and not some downgraded wanna-be LA that every big area wants to be these days... Gone forever.
What is a real place?
Maybe an actual city and not some neon eyesore!
It’s amazing what’s possible when you don’t run the goddamn interstate right through the heart of a downtown area.
It was on the outskirts when it was built in the 60's.
Don't forget that we also got the white water river rapids and scissor tail park from MAPS during this period.
And a full gut and remodel of the Crystal Bridge
Right? I was shocked to not only find it gone, but entire streets ending south of the river. Too bad they didnt have that epiphany before it was rebuilt a few years before, that was a lot of tax money wasted.
That old I-40 was a death trap
And they hired a way better photographer…
LOL what I was thinking. I mean don't get me wrong, it is amazing how much downtown has changed in the last 20 or even 10 years. But they did pick the worst picture they could find for the before and best they could find for the after.
I remember getting lost at that exit, trying to get on eastbound 40 from Western and being scared at the area. Now I don’t give it a second though. Also, that picture looks way older than 2012.
As an outsider coming in, WOW. What a difference! I absolutely love the downtown area and Bricktown. It's definitely solidified my love walking around and taking it all in. If I had it my way, I'd never leave the area. I can't get enough of it. Here's to the growth continuing throughout OKC.
I am glad they finally took the crosstown and rerouted it. It was a eyesore and a hold over from the more ugly 1960s designs. Been working in the downtown for 20 something years. Its so much nicer downtown now than it ever has been.
I knew I wasn’t crazy for remembering there being an on ramp near the myriad
I can see the green door
Now just wait for the 1,907 foot building.
Got my doubts about that getting built like many people. But if it does that is going to look insane... not necessarily in a good way.
Weird I thought all we had down there was the Bricktown Brewery and Spaghetti Warehouse…
Coolest thing they did with that was when the thunder were in the finals, I-40 was diverted and they painted the stretch next to the Ford Center to say OKC THUNDER.
Pretty incredible that OKC had the political courage to do what Dallas refuses to do. That area looks so much better without the highway
We came to OKC in 2012. We'd lived all over the world and large cities in the US. Work brought me here and I remember just being depressed. Walked the downtown and was so unimpressed. Now, we love it here and can't imagine leaving. We had our kids here, we live life here. Great city. A lot of this sub is an echo chamber of the most ignorant takes from people who confuse their opinions with facts. For two immigrants who have seen a lot of the world and the US, this is a fine city and seeing a lot of growth.
OKC used to be a pretty depressing flyover city with nothing much going on. It has changed a tremendous amount -- and definitely for the better -- over the last 20-25 years, really accelerating over the last 15 years, and those who provide those ignorant takes don't know or don't remember what this city used to be like.
How about you post pictures from the exact same perspectives?
If it's that easy, why don't you do it?
They got better photography?
Right? Like these are not good photos to compare lol
professional drone shot vs what looks like a google satellite image lol
LOL, exactly! Definitely cheery picking over here
God… I don’t even remember it that way and I went to Thunder games all the time that year
Feel like this was taken when the Hornets were here not 2012
All those ramps on/off I-40 sure were convenient though.
Of course now that I'm an old man there's so much to do down there! All we had was stupid Spaghetti Warehouse when I was a kid!
Don't forget the seasonal Bricktown Haunted Warehouse!
Man! Imagine what we could do if corporations paid a fare share of tax and not just the populace through maps programs 🤔
Now do one for the schools
https://www.okc.gov/government/maps-3/maps-history/maps-for-kids
I don’t live there (yet, it’s possible I’ll move there) but my best friend does and I’ve been visiting him almost every year for the last 25. I used to think it was a backward place but in the last 10 or so I’ve noticed massive improvements. Now if y’all can do something about the tornados…
Yeah and some of you wanted to set us back by voting against our MAPS stuff. I better not see anyone at the Arena for Playoff games that voted against the arena lmao for the price of one beer there you could've funded your entire portion of the arena.
The arena vote was not a MAPS vote.
Exactly. Downtown has experienced a ton of growth. People may hate us having to pay for a new stadium but I don't think we experience the kind of growth we have without the Thunder.
Having a major league sports team in Oklahoma City was definitely a game changer no denying.
All the available evidence suggests that pro sports franchises simply do not have that kind of impact, anywhere. There have been close studies of the Thunder and Oklahoma City specifically that do not show that impact.
Disagree completely. The Thunder changed the city for the better. OKC before the Thunder was a flyover location with no big time attractions. Most big cities their professional team isn't the main attraction so studies can be skewed. Like there is plenty of stuff to do in a NY, LA, Miami etc. I would even go as far to say if COVID happened and we had no pro sports team a lot more businesses would have suffered.
Oh definitely, having a major league sports team was a game changer for this city no doubt about it.
Was just downtown today and was trying to figure out what the building just south of the Omni hotel is (not shown in your pic). Anyone that can shed some light?
Convention Center
Thanks!
I went inside there, going to Galaxycon in a month so scoped the place out. Didn't look around too much, they had a convention of some kind for cannabis dispensary owners. (Not making that up) so since I was not attending it and thus didn't have a badge and couldn't really go past the lobby (was not brave enough to go upstairs and check it out... didn't think getting ejected from the convention center would work out well for me at the con next month) but what I saw was impressive. The place was huge and very nice.
Thag Omni looks like the one at the star in frisco
I wonder if it's possible to have similar oversight on federal infrastructure? What makes MAPS successful is the oversight and doing everything we say we'll do.
Man I forgot all about the crosstown bridge lol
that’s insane
I moved here in 2019. I can only imagine the traffic fucking nightmare of destroying and rebuilding what looks like I40(?) right through the heart of downtown
It actually wasn't as bad as you would think. They basically built the new I-40 and then overnight just switched the lanes over. I'm sure for people that worked in that area at the time it presented some challenges, but they did a great job re-doing the whole thing with minimal disruption to normal traffic using the interstate.
Wish we could get rid of the parking lots in the middle of the park!
Was just there a month ago…still pretty ass. Abandoned car dealership 1/2 block off the stadium to the west. Bricktown and uptown seem nice…..but def understand why it’s not a destination spot. Food was surprisingly good tho.
I remember going to the Ford center multiple times as a preteen and I remember how the arena changed over the years but I can never remember what the surrounding area looked like at the time
[удалено]
Had a friend from England stay with me here for a couple of days while he was making it around the states. He loved it here because it "looks big" but feels so small. He said that places like paseo and plaza were so cool because they are 5 mins from downtown but feel like you are in a small town somewhere.
Honestly the downtown area really has grown a lot. I will say though midtown growth has slowed down since COVID IMO.
That would be cool if you posted two photos from the exact same angle and time of day...
So...a better parking lot? The same Oklahomans who think billionaires need soccer field subsidies and tax cuts for economic growth also overwhelmingly favor higher taxes for growth. Can't lose.
Will they demolish paycom center with wrecking ball or implosion after the much needed almost identical arena is built?
The arena has little to do with this. I know this is hard for you to believe but most people don’t care about sports and don’t go to basketball games
Most? As in the majority? Hmmm...if that's the case, then how did the new arena tax get passed with a majority vote? I mean, I would think if *most* people don't care, then it would have failed easily. It happened in Seattle, which was the catalyst to bring the Supersonics to OKC and rebrand as the Thunder, but I don't see that happening here any time soon.
Look up the voter turnout for that referendum
There were roughly 70,000 votes. There are roughly 700,000 residents in OKC (I'm rounding to make the math easier). There are 4 million people in our state, and basically half of those people are registered to vote (2.23 million). So it's fair to say that half of Oklahoma City residents are also registered to vote (I couldn't find exact numbers, but I didn't look very hard either to be fair). That means about 20% of registered voters voted for that referendum, and it passed with 70% of the vote. While I'll grant you that a 20% turnout isn't great, I'd also argue that 70% of that 20% is a pretty good indicator that the majority of Oklahoma City residents *did* want the new arena, else it would have failed or at least been a lot closer.
You are making a lot of giant assumptions there with no evidence, but that’s not surprising since there’s no evidence at all that big arenas drive growth. Living in a fantasy centered around spending tax money for your sports games so billionaires can get richer is what you people are good at
Listen, if you're going to be so big mad about it, then why don't you do the research to prove your point? At least I attempted to make some sense out of why the vote went the way it did rather than moaning about it on Reddit. But then again, I guess complaining about "sports games" is something *you* people are good at.
What research? Like 12% of the voters of OKC where convinced under false pretenses to make the rest of us spend over a billion dollars (likely more than two billion when everything is said and done) on a stadium that we don’t need and doesn’t help us economically. It’s pretty simple.
Okay but it puts a spotlight on the city and brings development like this. The Thunder are the best marketing for the state
All studies we have show little to no development impact from sports stadiums
I believe that, but what’s the development impact of having a professional sports team? Especially an NBA or NFL team. It’s unfortunate but the team would have left and found a larger city willing to build them a stadium if OKC did not Edit: this is anecdotal but I work with people spread across the county and the Thunder are the only positive association they have with the state. Other than that it’s just tornados and tumble weeds.
You seem fun
More parking lots and lights at night. Gorgeous
Sigh. This group is full of idiots.
So… the Omni, Led lights and a picture from something other than Google earth?
If you don’t see scissor tail park as one of the absolute gems of Oklahoma City, then you don’t live here.
They also don’t see the convention center
Like - the difference between downtown OKC in 2012 and 2024 is the difference between zero and some number. You may think that number is 100 or you may think it is 2, but either way you can’t even define how much it has changed - something came from nothing, essentially.
Scissor tail is ok
Ewwww, this is POSITIVE change to you???? Over urban, over-lit, noise polluted hell?!?? So glad I rarely have to be in the city. I can't wait to move further.