A revised footprint for the East-West Connector turnpike corridor in Norman, Moore, Oklahoma City and Cleveland County was recently released on the www.accessoklahoma. com website. Residents and property owners in the east portion of the project will see that the extents of the rights-of-way now needed for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority project are anticipated to be significantly reduced after the removal of proposed frontage roads and three interchanges.
“The OTA met with municipal leaders of all communities impacted by this new turnpike route in early 2022 to see how the project could align with local infrastructure needs. Ultimately, frontage roads are a local decision and we respect the City of Norman’s choice to not add to their transportation infrastructure,” OTA Executive Director Joe Echelle said. “With this decision made, OTA has worked as quickly as possible to provide updated information to property owners in the area in order to provide certainty for all those impacted.
“While these changes create some up-front redesign costs for OTA, the removal of the frontage roads and three interchanges also will save millions of dollars in design, rightof- way acquisition and utility relocation and construction costs,” Echelle said.
Initially, the 28-mile new alignment will connect the U.S. Interstate 44/Tri-City area of Newcastle, Blanchard and Tuttle at State Highway 37/N.W. 32nd St. and cross the South Canadian River east to U.S. Interstate 35. Ultimately, the corridor will continue northeast to I-40 to connect to the Kickapoo Turnpike. The East-West Connector is a segment of the Oklahoma City Outer Loop, first envisioned by state and municipal leaders more than 30 years ago. It will serve as another east-west highspeed expressway facility to move traffic across the metro area and provides an additional river crossing.
TURNPIKES: Design to take longer
“Engineering design work is ongoing for the first segment of the East-West Connector between I-44 and I-35 and we expect to know the full extent of property acquisition needs for this project by the end of this year. While we had expected to reach 60% design completion in October, it will take some additional time to rework the design plans to remove the frontage roads and additional interchanges at 36th St., Broadway and 48th Ave.,” OTA Deputy Director and Chief Engineer T.J. Dill said. “This new, high-speed corridor will connect with the state highway and interstate system at I-44, I-35 and SH77H/Sooner Rd./12th Ave. N.E.”
ACCESS Oklahoma is a 15year long-range plan that will provide upgrades to the existing turnpike system statewide and includes new routes that complete the Oklahoma City Outer Loop and provide a reliever route for the Southern I-35 Corridor.
The OTA says that because of their ongoing cashless conversion, it is now possible to add several interchanges to the existing turnpike system that will create new access to communities.
