Okjlahoma Major new urban pikes to build

OKLAHOMA

Major new urban pikes

to build

The Oklahoma Turnpike is raising the loan money to finance $600m worth of new urban turnpikes in the cities of Tulsa and Oklahoma City extending 77km (48mi). And it is doing preliminary work on a major extension of the Muskogee in the rural southeast.

The biggest project is called the Creek Turnpike Extension but at an estd $355m cost and 42km (26mi) in length it is way bigger than the existing Creek Turnpike — which is only 12km (7mi), along the southern fringe of this, OK’s second metro area (pop 800k.) Most of the new pike is a J-shaped section in the east and southeast from the corner where the Creek transitions into a free US-169 around Broken Arrow. The new roadway will interchange with the Muskogee Tpk and head due north to link in to US-412 and then to the Will Rodgers Tpk I-44, the state’s principal link to St Louis and the eastern seaboard.

And at its western end the Creek will get a shorter extension through to the Turner Tpk (also I-44) that links Tulsa with Oklahoma City in the center of the state. The Creek will become a 56km long (34mi) peripheral road around the south and east fringes of the metro area, providing an alternate route for interstate as well as regional and local traffic. The Creek even in its present short section has had rapidly growing traffic, though current numbers are still modest — 29k trips/day.

In Oklahoma city (pop 1.0m) the state turnpike authority will also build an extra peripheral pike. An extension of the Kilpatrick west, from its present terminus at OK-74 then curving south interchanging with OK-3 a northwest radial and OK-66, a western radial terminating at I-40, due west of city center. This is a 24km (15mi) estd $174m project. The Kilpatrick now 15km (9mi) long across the north of the OK City area runs 24k trips/day, but it has been growing at double digit annual rates.

In the southwest of the Oklahoma City area, 30km (18mi) from the center a spur will be built 11km (7mi) in length, estd cost $70m, from the Bailey Tpk to provide a high quality connection to OK-9 at US-277, probably with just one intermediate interchange at OK-76. The interchange on the Bailey Turnpike for the Spur will be built to accomodate a northward highway that will be built as a free road that will head due north, to OK-152 at Mustang on the west side of OK City. That will leave a gap of just 7km (4mi) to the new end of the Kilpatrick Tpk to make a two-thirds C-shape beltway.

Plagued by Canadian rivers

Major expense in all Oklahoma City highway construction is the need to bridge the long floodplains of several meandering Canadian Rivers. (We hear talk the Okies may claim some financial compensation from up north for the cost of dealing with the troublesome floods those guys send down. But you try tracing their route!)

Planning and land acquisition will begin soon for a 70km (42mi) long southwestern extension of the rural Muskogee Tpk from its present terminus at I-40 at Webbers Falls south to Stigler then eastish to Poteau. From there it is not far across the border into Arkanasas where huge plans are afoot for upgrading US-71, a north-south route all along the western border eventually making a mwy standard route between Kansas City MO and Texarkana at I-30.

All the new roads will be 2x2-lanes with space to widen inward. The three urban projects involve 26 interchanges at an average spacing of just 3km (<2mi).

The new highways are promoted as creating jobs and attracting new business and it claimed that they represent “staggering growth potential” for the state. That kind of hyperbole aside, they will make the place easier to get about in.

The $174m Kilpatrick Extension is the only one that seems close to being a financially viable project on Wilbur Smith’s projections. Debt service on this would be around $10m and it is due to add up to $16m/yr to revenues. It is not clear that the other two projects make any financial sense for the Turnpike Authority however. The $70m Bailey Spur is only projected to eventually produce $2m extra toll revenue hardly enough to cover operating and maintenance let alone debt service. The Creek extensions at $355m are only estimated to add an eventual $18m/yr to revenues, suggesting they will be a major financial drag.

Debt service on the bonds being sold will be $40m to $50m/yr for all three projects, extra maintenance and operating costs of $5m/yr will bring the annual costs to $55m in 2008. Against that the revenue studies project extra tolls of $25m to $30m/yr medium term and only $36m in 2031. The rest of the system will apparently carry these sub-economic pikes. (Contact Jim Beach OTA 405 425 3610)