Engineering design ahead of schedule; early property acquisition underway
The progress on the South Extension Turnpike project is exceeding expectations, meeting the planned timelines for design and pre-construction activities. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is focused on progressing design plans and has already identified ways to improve the alignment in the early design stages of the future 19-mile corridor.
Collaboration and meetings with communities such as Noble, Purcell, Cleveland County, and many neighborhood associations and small groups have gone extremely well, allowing exploration of their transportation needs as part of the design within the turnpike alignment. OTA has also continued to provide regular updates to the City of Norman and the University of Oklahoma.
Engineers continue to find ways to tweak the alignment to minimize impacts to property owners and the environment while also increasing safety and meeting the community's future transportation needs at every opportunity.
"We are moving forward in the engineering design phase for the benefit of landowners. Providing certainty to property owners by communicating as early as we can is the right thing to do," said Joe Echelle, OTA executive director. "It's OTA's hope that expediting the early acquisition process lessens uncertainty and anxiety for those property owners who know they will have property purchased. OTA does not want to leave property owners in limbo for the next few years."
OTA is making initial property purchase offers where possible and is engaged in negotiations with property owners who contact OTA for early settlements or where the OTA has certainty regarding the need for the property. Right-of-way personnel began communicating in May with property owners whose land is directly impacted by the South Extension, which will ultimately connect the I-35 Southern Corridor with the future Toby Keith Expressway.
The construction completion timeline is in two phases. One segment is slated to open by 2032, and the remainder of the new route is expected to open by 2034. Engineering design plans for the turnpike corridor are expected to be at 60 percent completion by the end of this year. In early 2027, OTA plans to begin working with landowners where only partial parcels of property will be needed.
Major highway construction, especially for a new alignment, often can take an average of 10-20 years from inception to final completion. In the ACCESS program, the timeline has been streamlined to less than 10 years for all its corridors. While the visible parts of road construction occur in the final few years of the project, many other aspects of preconstruction, such as design, environmental assessments, property acquisition, and utility relocations, must be completed in the early stages for construction to begin.
Additionally, the public can expect to see more refined and detailed map information for the South Extension and the Toby Keith Expressway projects on the ACCESS Oklahoma website as engineering design plans progress past the 60 percent completion mark. OTA will continue to update the online map with additional project details as they become available.
ACCESS Oklahoma projects are progressing statewide. To date, OTA has let 21 construction projects at more than $785 million reinvestment into the state's turnpike system. OTA has purchased 101 properties and is actively negotiating on an additional 102 properties along the Toby Keith Expressway. The OTA expects to complete the initial 57 total purchases of property along the South Extension Turnpike alignment through the end of 2026. As announced in September 2025, the South Extension is expected to affect about 75 homes. As the OTA progresses through engineering design for the corridor, it will continue to optimize the design to minimize potential impacts.
Property owners who may be impacted by future turnpike construction are encouraged to stay in touch with OTA via the ACCESS Oklahoma hotline at 1-844-56-ACCES(S) or email info@accessoklahoma.com.
