Posted on 12/03/2017 8:08:34 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
State officials have yet to find a private partner to help finance the construction of the final five miles of the Gilcrease Expressway, but they are closer to figuring out how much motorists will have to pay to use it.
Tim Gatz, executive director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, said Monday that the toll is expected to be about $1 to $1.50 for private vehicles, with a higher rate for commercial vehicles. Motorists who use the plate-pay system, as can be used in Jenks, likely would pay more.
“We are waiting on the traffic and revenue study to come back in,” Gatz said during a Gilcrease Expressway working group meeting. “We may be on the high end of that range to really pull this thing together, because again, from an overall cost perspective, this is going to stretch everybody.”
Gatz said the challenging terrain and the large number of bridges to be built — 22 — make it nearly impossible to construct a traditional toll booth along the route.
“I think we have about gotten to the point where it is not feasible to do it,” Gatz said of a toll booth. “There is not anywhere to introduce the type of footprint that you would need to have a toll plaza.
“The terrain restraints just won’t allow it. The right-of-way constraints just won’t allow it.”
Earlier this year, state officials announced the long-anticipated extension of the roadway. The $300 million project will run south from the Sand Springs Expressway (U.S. 412), cross the Arkansas River at 57th West Avenue and connect to Interstate 44 in west Tulsa.
Construction is expected to begin late next year and take approximately 2½ years to complete.
Officials have identified approximately $165 million in funding for the project, including $65 million from an advance-funding program backed by anticipated federal dollars and $90 million to $100 million from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. The remainder will come from private investors.
About $40 million has already been spent on design work, Gatz said. Construction costs are expected to be $240 million. The remaining $20 million will be used to pay for right-of-way acquisitions and additional design work.
Gatz told the working group Monday that a request for information will be sent to contractors and financial organizations to get their feedback on the project and help them better understand what it involves.
“It is anything they want to bring to the table that might make this project a better project for them to be able to respond to an RFP (request for proposals)” for construction, Gatz said after the meeting. “We get a range of contractors that have the ability to finance projects like this. You also get financial institutions that will joint venture with contractors. So you have a lot of different configurations that can respond.”
Gilcrease Expressway was first envisioned nearly 60 years ago as part of the state Metropolitan Area Expressway System. The plan called for a stretch of roads that would eventually run from Interstate 244 just east of Memorial Drive to Interstate 44 at west 51st Street. But actual construction has been slow. Building the five-mile, four-lane extension would leave only the stretch from Edison Street to the Tisdale Expressway to be completed in northwest Tulsa.
Those attending Monday’s meeting included representatives from the city of Tulsa, Tulsa County, Indian Nations Council of Governments, Oklahoma Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of Transportation.
Speaking to a conference room full of transportation officials and journalists, Gatz noted that the long-awaited Gilcrease Expressway project has garnered a lot of attention.
“I think we are going to succeed,” he said, adding that the project remains on schedule.
The working group is scheduled to reconvene in the first quarter of next year.
Meh. Just one more toll road in Oklahoma to avoid.
Reading the article you linked to they refer to “difficult terrain”? I don’t see much in the way of serious terrain on the topo maps I could find along the routes described, especially when compared to what CALTRANS, ODOT, WDOT, or BCDOH deal with. Take a look and US17, or BC3, or even I-5 from border to border.
If’s Called “T-Town” because of all the taxes. Highest single item on my grocery receipt every week is ... wait for it .... TAX !
Awful lotta $$$ for design work. Who cares if it’s pretty?
Do you mean US101, by any chance? US17 is on the East Coast.
I was think STATE route 17, though US 101 is another good example.
Just a convenient excuse. They roll off the tongues of politicians and bureaucraps like butter. It is Oklahoma after all. Kickbacks and corruption are !ine items in the budget.
Thank God for the okla tax resolution
of 1992 or they would have us by our heels shaking every last cent out of our pockets. Cutting spending never comes up as alternative but I’m the other hand you can’t see what they do spend money on. Roads here are the worst in the nation. Services are a invisible. Education is a joke. Everything is run down.
If this isn’t the most corrupt, ignorant state there is it has to be in the top five. Most people here who want to leave are too poor to do it.
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