The once-congested 51st Street and Lewis Avenue intersection has a new look following extensive widening built in conjunction with the I-44 project. The project, which was completed in the fall of 2014, replaced the four-lane Lewis Avenue bridge with a structure that has seven lanes, plus two U-turn lanes for the I-44 frontage roads (one lane is not in use) and also widened the 51st Street and Lewis Avenue intersection while significantly changing its configuration. This view, looking north, shows Lewis Avenue with five through lanes and a northbound right-turn lane south of 51st Street, plus a wider median. Southbound traffic has two lanes, while northbound traffic has three. The northbound left lane continues through the intersection to form one of two left-turn lanes at Skelly Drive. There also is a northbound right-turn lane as before, but there are no right-turn arrows this time around. Fifty-First Street now is one-way eastbound from Lewis Avenue to the west, as it now serves as the eastbound I-44 frontage road. As a result, there is a permanent no-left-turn sign for northbound traffic. Photo taken Sept. 26, 2014.
