City officials knew about preliminary turnpike plans in Norman

The Norman Transcript

By Mindy Ragan Wood

January 27, 2023

Emails between a Norman city official and officials with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority reveal discussions about turnpike routes in Norman weeks before the agency made its announcement last year.

On Feb. 22, OTA announced a $5 billion, 15-year ACCESS plan to build two new toll roads in Norman.

At the time, city officials acted just as surprised by the announcement as the City Council, but emails show there were ongoing discussions about the project’s preliminary plans in Norman prior to OTA unveiling the routes.

The Transcript obtained emails between Public Works Director Shawn O’Leary and OTA Deputy Director Joe Echelle. The emails included OTA Director of Engineering Darian Butler and City Manager Darrel Pyle.

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