With costs escalating for a 15-year expansion program, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority board approved a toll hike ahead of a $1 billion bond sale slated for early 2025.
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority
Ahead of a $1 billion bond sale early next 12 months for an expansion program with rising costs, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority hiked toll rates after receiving state oversight approval for the debt.
The toll increase effective Jan. 1, which was unanimously approved by the OTA board on Tuesday, is aimed toward increasing systemwide toll revenue by 15%, while simplifying vehicle classifications, in response to OTA Finance Director Wendy Smith.
“Starting Jan. 1 of 2027 and on each two-year anniversary date thereafter, toll rates for the Oklahoma Turnpike system might be routinely adjusted by a rise of 6% to reflect inflation,” she told the board.
The OTA’s fiscal 2025 budget, which was adopted Nov. 7 before the toll hike approval, expected toll revenue to total $377.47 million this 12 months, rising to just about $381.8 million in 2025.
OTA Executive Director Joe Echelle said the toll increase is crucial for the continuation of the 15-year ACCESS Oklahoma (Advancing and Connecting Communities and Economies Safely Statewide) program, which was officially launched by Gov. Kevin Stitt in February 2022 to widen existing toll roads and construct latest ones.
“If we are able to agree that those projects are crucial, then the one way that the turnpike authority can take those on is thru this toll increase,” he said on Tuesday.
In November, Echelle revealed this system’s projected price tag had risen to $8.2 billion from $5 billion as inflation boosted costs and projects were added.
State lawmakers are starting to voice displeasure with the toll hike.
This week, Republican State Rep. Gabe Woolley and Democratic State Rep. Annie Menz called for legislative oversight of toll increases.
“Any fee increases from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority needs to be approved by the state Legislature, as this could put the facility back into the hands of the people via their elected officials,” Woolley said in a press release on Friday.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers targeted the OTA with a barrage of reform bills in 2023 with just one measure, which modified the authority’s governance structure, passing within the Republican-controlled legislature.
Echelle said the toll hike will put the authority “in good position” because it meets with rating agencies ahead of a January or February pricing of $1 billion of second senior revenue bonds approved by the OTA board in November and by the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight Dec. 5.
An initial $500 million of bonds sold for this system in October 2023 were rated Aa3 by Moody’s Rankings and AA-minus by S&P Global Rankings and Fitch Rankings — all with stable outlooks.
Litigation brought by property owners in the trail of tollway expansion projects delayed that issuance. After the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled within the turnpike’s favor within the lawsuits in May 2023, justices subsequently validated the initial debt in a 6-3 decision.
Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, which is battling the ACCESS program, called for a third-party feasibility study and compliance review for the upcoming bonds and the postponement of any future bond sales until an investigative state audit of OTA ordered by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond last 12 months is accomplished.