By 2037, the ACCESS Oklahoma turnpike program expects to complete more than 150 miles of widening, reconstruction, and new routes. That plan comes with plenty of controversy.
In August 2024 the Norman City Council voted to reject a resolution to partner with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority on the Southern Extension project through east Norman.
The packed crowd clearly loved the result — defying the OTA over a tollway that will cause some residents to lose their homes. Opposition to the project continues to be fervent, even as the route was recently adjusted and plans move forward without the support of city leadership.
“Our number one location where freight comes into the state is I-35 down south,” OTA Executive Director Joe Echelle said. “Also, the area that seems to be growing really fast right now population-wise is the south side of the metro.”
Echelle said, basically, Oklahoma has outgrown I-35 through Oklahoma City, and another way to get around the metro is needed: The Kickapoo Turnpike, the Southern Extension, and the east-west connector to I-44.
“What we’re working to do on the south side of the city is provide an alternative route. That’s how you can, maybe not defer half the traffic, but maybe some large percentage,” he said. “Maybe it’s just the future growth — the additional traffic that’s going to be impacting I-35 long into the future that now has an alternative alignment to use.”
Whatever opinions on the merits of this particular turnpike plan, or concerns or anger about its impacts, it begs the question: Why turnpikes? Why not regular freeways? The answer isn’t surprising. It’s money. And the Oklahoma Department of Transportation doesn’t have enough of it.
“They have $27 billion worth of backlog. So for them to go build a new highway, it would be like adding onto your house when your roof is leaking,” Echelle said. “You have to maintain what you have first. And if you have a leaky roof, it’s time to put a new roof on it. And that’s what ODOT is trying to do, is maintain what they have. They’re not resourced in a way that they could go and do something like this.”
Tim Gatz is the executive director for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. He said maintaining and improving the existing highway and bridge infrastructure is always ODOT’s priority, and even that’s become much more difficult in the last few years.
“The heavy highway construction has really taken an inflationary hit over the course of the last four or five years,” Gatz said. “It’s unlike anything — and I’ve been working for the highway department for 36 years now. We’ve never seen an inflationary spike in the heavy highway costs like we have right now. It’s to the tune of in excess of 60%.”
Inflation compounds an already tough situation for Oklahoma’s highway infrastructure. Fuel taxes fund ODOT’s projects, and Oklahoma’s are low. Vehicles are becoming more fuel-efficient. Oklahoma ranks 28th in the country in population, but has a more expansive highway system than most other states.
“We are the crossroads of America, served by Interstate 35, Interstate 44, Interstate 40 primarily,” Gatz said. “Oklahoma is an agricultural state. We’re an energy-producing state. So we really use the heck out of our transportation system. And we’ve got that small tax base and small population base that’s supporting that big infrastructure. So it can be challenging.”
Within the last few days, ODOT released its updated eight-year construction work plan, which the agency readjusts each fiscal year.
The current plan calls for more than 1,200 projects overall, including more than 200 at risk bridges that need to be repaired or replaced, 12 structurally deficient bridges that need to be addressed, pavement improvement projects for nearly 3,000 lane miles of road and 675 miles of rural two-lane highway improvements.
The total expected cost is $7.7 billion. So, why, if a new highway is built, must it be a turnpike? That’s why.
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