Mayor Karl Nail told City Council members at their November meeting that the ACCESS Oklahoma program is back underway. He explained how he understands the process will be moving forward and that the project near Newcastle will be the first.
Nail said the City met with Oklahoma Turnpike Authority staff about a week prior to the Council meeting and they explained where they are in the process.
Nail said, “They anticipate that after the first of the year, they’ll be able to provide 30% plans for public consumption. That will show the fairly defined path of where the turnpike will impact, including both the turnpike and any associated accessory roads adjacent to that. Everyone will know fairly well whether they will be impacted or not, and to what degree.”
Nail said property owners in the Newcastle area will be contacted.
“At that point in time, they’ve indicated to us that they’ll be in a position to negotiate for right-of-way acquisition with those individuals for what they call a total take, where they have to take an entire piece of property,” he said. “In the Fall of 2024 they’ll be at 65% plans and they’ll have an exact alignment planned, and they’ll be able to negotiate with partial takes.”
The mayor said it is his understanding that the first stages of ACCESS Oklahoma is the connection from I-44 east across the South Canadian River to I-35 in the general vicinity of Sooner Road. This is a portion of what is known as the Outer Loop: East-West Connector.
Nail said, “They did issue the $5 million in bonds, and have ramped up engineering, and they are going to be moving forward. After the first of the year, I’m sure they’ll be updating the ACCESS Oklahoma website. He said they plan to be very transparent moving forward.”
The OTA’s website was recently updated to say the following: “On Aug. 1, 2023, the Oklahoma Supreme Court affirmed the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s request for bond validation for the ACCESS Oklahoma long-range plan. This means that the 15year plan, including three new routes to complete the Oklahoma City Outer Loop and relieve I-35 congestion, are now able to move forward.
“We are at the beginning stages of this long-range plan. OTA will move forward to enter the bond market, which will allow the Authority to restart the preliminary engineering activities for projects across the state in the coming months.
“This long-range plan has always been about the safety of Oklahoma motorists. OTA’s mission is to help facilitate traffic throughout the state by seamlessly connecting with the state highway system, thereby providing a choice for a safe, convenient and efficient user-funded transportation network. Our goal is to provide safe infrastructure while maintaining the lowest toll rate for our customers.”
The entire project known as the Outer Loop: East-West Connector includes constructing “a new east-west turnpike from I-44 Tri-City area (Newcastle, Blanchard, Tuttle) at SH-37, crossing the South Canadian River, east to I-35, then continuing east along Indian Hills Road and then northeast to I-40, connecting to the new Kickapoo Turnpike,” according to the OTA.
OTA states, “This project expands the mobility of the south Oklahoma City metro by providing greater access to Moore and Norman while continuing the Outer Loop.”
