OTA Board adopts scheduled toll adjustment, kicks off second year of seat belt campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #018-26
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Board on Thursday adopted the inflationary toll adjustment scheduled in 2024, approved the first toll increase on the Gilcrease Expressway in west Tulsa and awarded $11.3 million to rebuild and repair two turnpike bridges. The meeting opened with the kickoff of the second year of “Never Skip the Click,” the statewide seat belt campaign by OTA and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
Turnpike tolls to rise about 6% in January under 2024 inflation schedule
New toll rates take effect Jan. 5, 2027, after New Year’s holiday travel. The adjustment is designed to raise systemwide toll revenue by 6 percent. It was set in motion in December 2024, when the Board approved a 15 percent increase for 2025 and a projected 6 percent inflationary adjustment every two years starting in 2027.
“This is the second in a series of toll adjustments that’s related to our ACCESS Oklahoma bond program,” said Mary Biswell, OTA’s director of revenue assurance. “We anticipate coming back every two years to consider another 6 percent increase.”
The adjustment keeps OTA’s revenue in step with inflation and helps pay for reinvestment in the turnpike system through ACCESS Oklahoma, Biswell said. Because the 2025 increase varied between urban and rural turnpikes, this one moves toward one standard rate for urban turnpikes — the Creek, Kilpatrick and Kickapoo — and another standard rate for rural turnpikes.
For a PIKEPASS customer driving a passenger vehicle the full length of the I-44/Turner Turnpike between Oklahoma City and Tulsa, the toll will go from $5.40 to $5.75 on Jan. 5. PIKEPASS rates will remain the ninth lowest toll rates in the nation.
First Gilcrease Expressway toll increase set for January
The 5-mile Gilcrease Expressway’s first toll increase also takes effect Jan. 5. Working with the federal government, OTA skipped 3 percent toll increases in 2024 and 2026, Biswell said.
“We were thrilled to offer this savings to our motorists driving in Tulsa,” she said.
The new schedule reduces the expressway’s five vehicle classes to three — small, medium and large — as the rest of the system did in 2025. PIKEPASS passenger vehicles will pay 15 cents more per trip, about a 7 percent increase. A full-length trip on the Gilcrease Expressway will go from $2.05 to $2.20.
Seat belt campaign returns with focus on young men in rural Oklahoma
“Normally, we end our meetings talking about buckling seat belts, but today we wanted to start with that message,” said OTA Chief Engineer Trenton January, who led the campaign kickoff.
January read Gov. Kevin Stitt’s proclamation naming November 2026 Seat Belt Safety Awareness Month. It notes that more than half of fatal crashes in Oklahoma involve someone not wearing a seat belt.
“Everybody should wear their belt,” said OTA Executive Director Joe Echelle. “But the place we see the biggest gap in statistics is young men age 18 to 40, especially in the more rural areas of Oklahoma, where they’re driving a truck.”
About 83 percent of Oklahomans buckle up on local and rural roads, and fewer than 79 percent of pickup drivers do, according to the latest statewide observational study.
“Things can happen fast, and a short trip can go bad in a hurry,” T.J. Dill, ODOT’s interim executive director, said in a campaign video shown at the meeting.
Oklahomans of driving age can take the Click Check Challenge online, and a free children’s seat belt activity kit is available at PIKEPASS store locations or is downloadable at pikepass.com. Check out the latest seat belt safety campaign public service announcement video on OTA’s YouTube channel.
$11.3 million awarded to rebuild, repair bridges near McAlester and in Noble County
Built Right Construction LLC won an $8.5 million contract to completely reconstruct an Indian Nation Turnpike bridge and its approaches over SH-31 and the Union Pacific Railroad, about 3.5 miles west of McAlester in Pittsburg County. The bid came in about 5.9 percent above the engineer’s estimate, mostly because of retaining wall work and mobilization costs, said Darian Butler, OTA’s director of engineering.
Treas Construction Inc. won a $2.8 million contract to rehabilitate the US-412/Cimarron Turnpike bridge over a tributary of Red Rock Creek in Noble County just east of US-77. That bid came in about 1.8 percent above the engineer’s estimate.
Ragan Road interchange on Indian Nation Turnpike to open fully Nov. 12
The Ragan Road interchange near Indianola, a half interchange since the Indian Nation Turnpike was built in the 1960s, is expected to open fully to traffic Nov. 12, Echelle said. The $5 million project completes a full diamond interchange, which wasn’t possible before the turnpike system went cashless.
Echelle said he has often seen drivers go the wrong way on the partial ramps to reach area destinations.
“It’s really going to provide tremendous access and a lot of time savings for that location,” he said of the area near Ulan and Indianola.
OTA testing wrong-way driver detection on I-44/H.E. Bailey Turnpike
A wrong-way driver recently entered the Turner Turnpike at I-35 and drove east in the westbound lanes past Wellston, Echelle said. A 911 call, usually the first alert in these cases, reported the driver, and it took about 15 minutes for a trooper to reach and stop the vehicle.
OTA tests cameras on the I-44/H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur to detect wrong-way drivers, with the goal of warning drivers ahead through message boards or alerts to connected vehicles. Current technology often sends false alerts, so OTA is vetting the system first. This prototype was discussed in a recent interim study by Rep. Nicole Miller, R-Edmond, about possible solutions to deter wrong-way driving incidents and warn other motorists.
“If you’re driving at night and the road is open, try to keep to the right,” Echelle said as a precaution for giving your vehicle more room to maneuver in case of a wrong-way driver. Motorists who see a wrong-way vehicle should move over safely and immediately call 911.
Turner Turnpike returns to original alignment at Lake Arcadia
Crews have begun setting beams on a $22 million project to rebuild the Turner Turnpike bridges at Arcadia Lake, just east of I-35. The project is more than 40 percent complete and expected to finish this spring.
“Lake Arcadia didn’t exist when the Turner was built. So, we’re moving (the turnpike) back to its old alignment, putting it back down the middle,” Echelle said as part of the widening of the Turner Turnpike to eight lanes. Watch drone footage of the recent bridge beam hanging on OTA’s YouTube channel.
WATCH November’s Board meeting on OTA’s YouTube channel. The next OTA Board meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, in the city council chambers at Sapulpa City Hall, 425 E. Dewey Ave., Sapulpa.