Bond Oversight Council Gives OTA Green Light For Turnpike Expansion Plan

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority received approval to enter the bond market for its turnpike expansion plan. The decision came Monday at the State Capitol during a meeting with the council on bond oversight.

The approval allows the OTA to begin the process of selling $500 million dollars in bonds.

The bond money will fund access Oklahoma, a 15-year project that would include widening the Turner, Will Rogers and John Kilpatrick turnpikes as well as adding and enhancing access points on existing turnpikes. The bonds are the debt of the OTA and will be serviced through toll revenues. 

The project was stalled earlier this year due to legal matters with the State Supreme Court, including a "validation" case and impeding state investigative audit. Those opposed to the State Supreme Court ruling and Monday’s approval by the council were in attendance to voice their concerns. 

“I find it crazy that the council for bond oversight would overlook such egregious financial problems and just common sense,” said Amy Serato, President of Pike Off OTA. “Statute requirements say they have to have traffic and revenue studies done, they have to have environmental studies done before they get the bonds.”

Tim Gatz, Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation, said there are several conditions the oversight council set in place including a petition for rehearing with the Supreme Court.

“They certainly identified that as a condition of the Turnpike Authority moving into the bond market and we will be absolutely 100% mindful of that and we will satisfy that requirement before we do and that is one of the variables that has to be resolved before we can move forward,” Gatz said

Gatz said he hopes to have those conditions resolved at the earliest, in October.