"That whole bridge comes down," Shannon Cox, public information manager for Oklahoma City Public Works, told the Journal Record in May. "We know it's going to be a while, and we know construction is painful."

Five months later, the old bridge carrying May Avenue over NW Expressway is gone. On Wednesday, October 7, crews poured concrete for the new bridge deck and ramps. KFOR reported that the pour was a major milestone in the $15 million project. When it opens, the structure that replaces the bridge will be Oklahoma City's first diverging diamond interchange. A second one has already been designed for Memorial Road and Western Avenue.

Both projects sit on the major streets around Quail Creek. The Quail Creek HOA describes the neighborhood as running from May Avenue to Hefner Parkway and from Hefner Road to Memorial Road. May Avenue is the western edge, and OKC Friday identifies May Avenue and Quail Creek Road as the main entrance among the neighborhood's 24 access points. Memorial Road is the northern edge. Whoever lives here will be among the first in the city to use this new intersection design as part of an ordinary week.

A bridge that was already rebuilt once

Wear and tear isn't the only reason the May Avenue bridge is being replaced. The bigger problem was how low it sat. "Most are aware that the bridge is very low and it has been hit in the past," Cox told the Journal Record. About ten years ago, a commercial vehicle hit the structure and it collapsed. The city did an emergency rebuild but kept the same basic design. According to KFOR, voters approved money for a permanent fix in 2017, nearly a year after that collapse.

Engineers decided that raising the bridge was the only way to make the intersection safe. "It needs to be rebuilt at a higher height so it doesn't get hit again," Cox said. The city's project page calls the old bridge "structurally deficient and functionally obsolete." The city is paying for the replacement with an ACOG grant, the 2017 bond program and Street Development Fees. The Journal Record put the budget at $14.7 million when work began, and the city's page lists it as $15 million.

The crash history explains why the city wanted a new design rather than a taller copy of the old one. The project page lists 377 collisions "in the past 10 years" and says most of them happened where the ramps meet May Avenue and NW Expressway. The page doesn't say which ten years that count covers. The new design targets those ramp connections.

Where the work stands after the October 7 pour

The past five months have gone like this:

• May 19: The city announces that construction is starting.
• Week of June 18: Demolition begins. May Avenue closes over NW Expressway, and traffic moves to temporary detour ramps.
• June 21 to 24: Westbound and then eastbound NW Expressway close fully overnight, from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., while the bridge comes down.
• August 20: KFOR reports the first new beams in place.
• October 7: The new deck and ramps are poured.

The deck needs time before anyone drives on it. "It'll be a few weeks while it cures, and while it's curing, they're gonna be working on abutments and all the other things that go around the bridge," Cox told KFOR.

For now, the traffic pattern stays the same. ODOT's October 9 traffic advisory says both directions of May Avenue are on temporary lanes with signals for crossing NW Expressway. NW Expressway is narrowed in both directions at May, also with temporary signals, and the ramps stay closed through 2026.

Even with the deck poured, there are still several traffic shifts ahead. When the project started, the Journal Record described the remaining phases in this order:

1. NW Expressway is narrowed by closing its outside lanes. Traffic then moves to the inside lanes.
2. All May Avenue traffic moves to the western lanes.
3. Once that side is paved, all traffic flips to the eastern side so crews can finish the southbound lanes and ramps.
4. In the last phase, traffic runs in one lane each way while crews build safety islands and drainage.

Crews also have to remove the temporary detour lanes before the interchange opens. None of the sources reviewed give dates for these switches, so the lane you use on May Avenue in December could be different from the one you use now. The city says it will post schedule changes on the project page.

How the crossover will work

The diverging diamond was invented in 1970s France, according to the Journal Record. The basic idea is that traffic crosses to the opposite side of the road for a short stretch through the interchange. While you're on that side, turning left onto a ramp doesn't cross oncoming traffic. Cox described it this way:

"We're going to cross over, and that helps allow left turns without having to wait for another cycle."

Here is what that means at May and NW Expressway. Under the old layout, a driver on May turning left onto the expressway had to wait for a separate signal cycle. In the new layout, those left turns go straight onto the ramps, and the turning cars no longer cut across the oncoming traffic stream. That stream crosses the ramp connections where the city's crash data shows most of the problems. Cox also said the old bridge had "definitely reached its limit" on capacity.

The new structure also adds things the old one didn't have: a wider deck, concrete barriers to protect people on foot, new signals, energy-efficient lighting and new ramps.

Two finish dates, both from the city

The project has two published end dates, and both come from the city.

In its October 7 report, KFOR noted that the city's website lists 2028 but that the city says "progress is great" and expects an opening in summer 2027. The sources don't explain the gap between the two dates. One possibility is that the interchange opens to drivers in 2027 and the remaining work wraps up in 2028, but no official has said that.

Businesses near the intersection have been dealing with the construction since June. Before demolition started, KOCO talked with the manager of Cycle Gear, a store near the site. He said a slow day brings 100 to 200 customers, and he worried that traffic cones and a blocked driveway would make people decide it wasn't worth the hassle to pull in. In October, Cox repeated the city's request. "We encourage people to come to these businesses and absolutely help them in this time," she told KFOR. She also noted that the detour lanes are still open, though getting through may take extra time.

The second diamond, on Quail Creek's northern edge

The May Avenue project is the first diverging diamond in Oklahoma City, and Memorial Road is in line for the next one. The Journal Record reported in May that city planners had approved a second diverging diamond design for Memorial Road and Western Avenue, near Costco.

The city's Western Avenue and Memorial project page gives the details. The preferred design, Alternative 1B, replaces the current interchange with a diverging diamond and adds a multilane roundabout at Pawnee Drive. The city says the design keeps more direct access to the I-344 ramps and to Costco. The project would also widen Western Avenue from south of Pawnee Drive to south of NW 138th Street and resurface NW 122nd Street from Western to Santa Fe. ODOT and the city would manage construction, with an estimated cost of $12.6 million paid by Street Development Fees and ACOG.

That page last asked for public comments by November 10, 2025. We found no bid date, construction start or construction timeline in the city's or ODOT's published material. For now, the Memorial and Western diamond is an approved design without a construction date.

At May Avenue, the remaining steps are better defined. The deck needs to cure, crews will work through the lane switches the city has described, and the temporary lanes will come out before opening. The city says to expect that in summer 2027, while its project page still says 2028. ODOT's weekly advisories and the city's project page are where new closure dates will be posted first.

If you're timing a sale or purchase around the May Avenue opening, Cole Strickland watches north Oklahoma City projects like this one closely. Start with an instant home valuation, then talk with us about how this corridor fits into your plans.