In March of last year, the Newcastle Pacer reported that the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, in its Access Oklahoma program, has made the Outer Loop, East-West Connector its priority number one. At that time, they expected to move on it as quickly as possible.
Although much of the program had already been halted, work on a portion of the East-West Connector continued through April, according to the OTA, but since then all work has been halted.
Before work was stopped, OTA’s website stated, “At this time, the OTA is continuing design and planning work on only the section of the East-West Connector from U.S. Interstate 44 to just east of U.S. Interstate 35 at Air Depot. OTA has paused all activity on the eastern portion of the route to U.S. Interstate 40 (including the interchange with the South Extension).”
OTA stopped all of its work on Access Oklahoma projects on Friday, April 14. They currently have matters pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court, including a “validation” case which is what OTA says is preventing them from accessing the bond market. They also face an investigative audit by State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd’s office, requested by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond.
In a May 31 statement sent to the Newcastle Pacer, OTA says, “The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is grateful that the Oklahoma Supreme Court accepted jurisdiction of this important case. Today’s decision confirmed that the agency complied with all requirements of the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act regarding Authority board meetings conducted in January and February 2022. Since these claims were first filed, the Authority has maintained that it acted in full compliance with the OMA, one of Oklahoma’s most important statutes.
“OTA always strives to go above and beyond the minimum legal requirements in how it conducts the public’s business and does so as transparently as possible. The agency will continue to operate in this manner and remains fully committed to complying with the Open Meetings Act.
“We want to be clear that this ruling does not provide Supreme Court validation of proposed bonds to construct and operate new turnpike routes. That ruling is still pending and as such, the Authority will continue to pause work related to the ACCESS Oklahoma long-range plan.”
OTA further states, “Once these roadblocks are resolved and the path to the bond market is cleared, OTA will resume ACCESS Oklahoma and begin moving forward on behalf of the people of Oklahoma.”
The OTA had been working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on parts of the East-West Connector because of environmental concerns.
A positive for the Newcastle area is that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation did indicate willingness to work with OTA on the East-West Connector’s alignment across pipeline and flowage easements.
When work on Access Oklahoma continues, it is believed that OTA will continue to coordinate and plan the East-West Connector to ensure the easement crossings are planned, designed and constructed without interfering with the easement interests or the Norman Project’s infrastructure or operation.
The East-West Connector project is approximately 28 miles with an estimated budget in March 2022 of $1,500,000,000. It is considered to be a new alignment, high-speed expressway facility.
If constructed, the new east-west turnpike from I-44 in the Tri-City area (Newcastle, Blanchard, Tuttle) at State Highway 37, would cross the South Canadian River, going east to I-35, then continuing east along Indian Hills Road and then northeast to I-40, connecting to the new Kickapoo Turnpike.
ACCESS Oklahoma stands for Advancing and Connecting Communities and Economies Safely Statewide. OTA states that this $5 billion, 15-year long-range plan identifies and addresses on-going highway infrastructure needs to improve access to communities across the Oklahoma turnpike network.
