Enid News & Eagle
By Janelle Stecklein
September 28, 2021
OKLAHOMA CITY — Under pressure from local and tribal leaders to modernize Oklahoma’s rural turnpikes, transportation officials said they’re examining the entire turnpike network to consider where to add interchanges so motorists can better access underserved locations and increase use of toll roads.
Joe Echelle, deputy director at the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, acknowledged that the lack of exits and on-ramps is acute along the Indian Nation Turnpike, a nearly 50-year-old toll road that runs from Henryetta to Hugo, cutting across a 105-mile swath of Eastern Oklahoma.
Echelle, who is originally from McAlester, said he continues to drive that turnpike — also known as Oklahoma 375 — to visit family.
He said he doesn’t know how many times he has seen people enter the highway and then turn around at one of the cut-throughs to head in the opposite direction. Other people realize they’ve gotten off at the wrong exit and then back up the exit ramps into oncoming traffic, causing accidents.
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