Southwest Ledger
By News Staff November 20, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority board unanimously approved three resolutions during its meeting this month that authorizes the OTA to issue revenue bonds sufficient to generate $1 billion in construction funds to finance ACCESS Oklahoma long-range plan projects.
ACCESS Oklahoma is a strategic corridor plan that focuses on travel time reliability, easing congestion in Oklahoma’s metro areas, moving freight across the state, and adding access through new interchanges to communities that previously were not connected to turnpikes. At the core of the long-range plan is improving safety for motorists while enhancing the state’s transportation infrastructure for future growth, OTA officials said.
The Authority sold $500 million in bonds for the initial phase of the long-range plan in October 2023, which has paid for initial engineering design work among other items to start the long-range plan. After the Board’s recent approval, the next step in the oversight process for issuing this second round of bonds will be an application to the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight (COBO).
That agency reviews all bond issues by or on behalf of the state and its authorities and instrumentalities to ensure that all authorizations and compliance are in place. COBO also approves all fees associated with the bond offering. However, COBO does not evaluate the merits of the project, only that all financial and legal requirements are met.
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