Come together
With a final weld, nearly two years of streetcar construction are rapidly coming to an end.
Workmen welded together the last two sections of rail for the Oklahoma City Streetcar on Wednesday afternoon, reaching a milestone on the way to beginning service in December.
Nearly two years of streetcar constructionrelated street closures and traffic disruption downtown are rapidly coming to an end.
Crews with contractor Herzog/Stacy & Witbeck have installed nearly six miles of track since construction began in February 2017.
“It’s been a long time coming,” said MAPS 3 Program Manager David Todd.
The last weld was completed at NW 5 and Robinson Avenue, on a section called the 5th Street Turnback.
The one-block stretch of track gives operators flexibility to keep streetcars moving through the central business district in the event service is disrupted or tracks are blocked in Midtown.
Some asphalt and concrete work remains on the NW 5 track bed but work is nearly complete.
“This is one more major crew that can leave town now and say their job is done,” Todd said.
Todd said the public can look for streetcars undergoing testing and operator training on the downtown loop over the next two months.
Testing began on the Bricktown loop in May.
The two loops comprise 6.9 miles of “service track.”
Riders will have connections to the Bricktown entertainment district, the MAPS 3 convention center complex and park, central business district offices and shopping, and Midtown.
Routes reach from SW 3 on the south to NW 11 on the north, and generally from Hudson Avenue on the west to Broadway on the east. Streetcars will reach east to Joe Carter in Bricktown.
The city’s $4.5 million modern-design, low-floor streetcars are manufactured in western Pennsylvania by Brookville Equipment Corp. Seven were purchased.