Oklahoma Department of Transportation may get piece of Chickasaw

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Aug 8, 2007 by Janice Francis-Smith

At Monday's meeting of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), the Transportation Commission embarked on a process that could result in the department taking ownership of about four miles of the Chickasaw Turnpike, which links Sulphur and Ada.

The commission authorized ODOT staff members to begin work on cost/benefit and feasibility studies regarding the transfer of a portion of the turnpike from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority over to ODOT.

The Chickasaw Turnpike is a 27.1-mile-long, two-lane highway extending from State Highway 7 west of Sulphur to SH 1 near Ada. Only about 17 miles of the highway is tolled, with interchanges at SH 7, U.S. 177 and at Roff. ODOT has agreed to consider a proposal to assume ownership of four miles of the turnpike, from SH 7 to U.S. 177.

"The Department believes this may provide the solution to some traffic issues in downtown Sulphur resulting from increasing truck traffic," reads the agenda item presented to the Transportation Commission at Monday's meeting. Only if the studies show the transfer would be "beneficial to the public, the highway system and the Department, and further that an acceptable tentative agreement can be reached with the Turnpike Authority, the Department will bring back to the Commission the findings of the analysis and the terms of the tentative agreement for your consideration," the agenda reads.

Oklahoma Transportation Secretary Phil Tomlinson - also serves as director of the Turnpike Authority - stressed that the agenda item the Transportation Commission approved Monday is only a preliminary step in the process. Tomlinson encouraged the commission to approve the item.

"This looks like it could be good business for all of us," said Tomlinson.

The Chickasaw Turnpike is unique among turnpikes in that its bond issue specifically allowed for a transfer to ODOT to take place, Tomlinson noted. Both the original bond issue that created the turnpike and subsequent reissues anticipated a possible transfer of the highway.

The turnpike was created as a "compromise" between urban and rural legislators in the late 1980s in exchange for transportation developments around the urban centers of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. However, the low traffic counts never justified construction of the $44 million Chickasaw Turnpike - which charges a toll of 55 cents - and the Turnpike Authority loses money on the road every year.

In past years, some lawmakers and transportation officials have proposed transferring ownership of all or part of the turnpike over to ODOT. In 2002, the Turnpike Authority even offered ODOT one- time, $14 million payment to take the Chickasaw Turnpike, to aid with maintenance expenses. State Rep. Wes Hilliard, D-Sulphur, was one of the lawmakers who opposed the plan.

"I told them that unless the Transportation Authority brought that turnpike up to ODOT specifications, and completed the interchanges at Roff and U.S. 177 north at Sulphur, we're not interested in having that thing dumped on the taxpayers," Hilliard had said in 2002.

The authority got to work, spending $4.5 million to reconstruct the four-mile section currently under discussion to meet ODOT standards. The entire turnpike has had some work done recently - in October, the turnpike was reopened after seven months of construction estimated to cost more than $12 million.

The closure had forced truckers and other drivers to detour through the city of Sulphur to get onto SH 7 and get to Ada. Apparently, drivers are still taking the detour route, as the increased traffic through Sulphur was highlighted as a continued problem for the area that could be alleviated though the transfer to ODOT.

The recent work on the turnpike did not include the construction of on and off ramps at the interchange with SH 177, which would fall to ODOT should the transfer proceed.