Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation and Pike Off OTA held a press conference outside Norman city hall to discuss the city council’s rejection of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s proposed resolution Monday.
At the press conference, members of Pike Off OTA, an anti-turnpike grassroots organization, celebrated the rejection of a partnership between Norman City Council and the OTA as a success.
Amy Cerato, president of Pike Off OTA and Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, criticized the methods of the OTA and urged them to take responsibility for what she called their poor planning and terrible decision-making throughout the process.
According to Cerato, the OTA planned these routes in secret, secured their engineering consultants before publicly announcing the access plan, and then designed and constructed along predetermined routes before having any impact studies. Cerato criticized the OTA for moving forward with discussing these potential routes with the affected municipalities before securing permission to cross federal lands to Lake Thunderbird and across the south Canadian River.
“They needed the city of Norman to sign on to a partnership agreement with them to fulfill their turnpike Enabling Act statute and give them permission to come into the city of Norman and construct their turnpikes,” Cerato said.
According to a statement from the OTA, the city requested several amenities for the East-West Connector, including frontage roads, which would have been included in an agreement following the resolution.
The resolution, which was unanimously rejected by the Norman City Council in August, would have allowed two ACCESS Oklahoma turnpikes through Norman, including the East-West Connector and the South Extension Turnpike.
ACCESS Oklahoma is a $5 billion, 15-year plan by the OTA to develop new turnpikes and expand existing highways across the state. It was approved by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in August 2023.
According to a press release, The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Enabling Act requires the OTA to partner with cities, counties and municipalities before new highways can be constructed through spaces controlled by the city.
During the August council meeting, members of Pike Off OTA held signs outside city hall that said “Save our community. Stop ACCESS Oklahoma.” And “No Turnpike.”
In an email to OU Daily on Sept. 5, Lisa Shearer-Salim, OTA communication and marketing manager, wrote the preliminary estimate for the frontage roads was more than $150 million, including the right-of-way for construction.
“OTA was offering to partner with the city by purchasing the (right-of-way) and constructing the frontage roads,” Shearer-Salim wrote. “However, frontage roads would be part of the local infrastructure system, and therefore, the city would be the owner and maintain them after construction.”
At the press conference, Tassie Katherine Hirschfeld of Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation said the original revenue projections for the East-West Connector were approximately $1.5 billion to construct and $3.7 billion for debt service.
The East-West Connector would only bring in around $611 million in toll revenue, Hirschfeld said. This means the East-West Connector would operate approximately $3.1 billion in debt, even before operation and maintenance costs.
“These roads will never pay for their construction costs, and all of these will be shifted to other toll roads in the system, which have already seen, in some cases, double-digit increases over the past year,” Hirschfeld said.
According to Shearer-Salim, the OTA will continue with its ACCESS Oklahoma plans and intends to open the first segment of the East-West Connector by late 2027.
This story was edited by Ismael Lele, Ana Barboza and Anusha Fathepure.
