Hundreds of Norman community members expressed concern at a public town hall Wednesday night about the rerouting of the South Extension Turnpike, a part of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s ACCESS Oklahoma plan.
ACCESS Oklahoma is a 15-year, $8.2 billion proposal to construct new turnpikes and expand existing highways statewide, including two turnpikes that would run through Norman.
The proposed South Extension Turnpike is an approximately 19-mile highway expansion, which would stretch from the newly constructed East-West Connector in Franklin and Interstate 35 in Slaughterville. In the original plan, the expansion would have run just west of Lake Thunderbird.
Last week, OTA Executive Director Joe Echelle announced it will reevaluate the South Extension’s alignment because the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation did not allow for it to cross federal property at Lake Thunderbird.
The town hall was held in the Washington Elementary gymnasium by Pike Off OTA, a grassroots organization that has advocated against turnpike expansion throughout the state.
Randy Carter, the communications director for Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, spoke first at the town hall. Carter said, according to insiders he spoke with, the OTA is intending to reroute the South Extension west to avoid the Bureau of Reclamation entirely.
“I don't think that they will try to go back to the Bureau of Reclamation because that process took so long,” Carter said. “I think they want to get some concrete on the ground so they will be able to say at a point that they did not fail.”
Pike Off OTA's predicted potential routes for the South Extension Turnpike.
Terri Angier, chief of media and public relations for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, is working alongside the OTA for the South Extension project. Angier confirmed with OU Daily Thursday morning the OTA will move the South Extension Turnpike further west, but said there is not a specific location established yet.
Carter said the OTA is restarting the entire planning process and route alignment study behind the South Extension Turnpike. The study involves holding conversations with stakeholders, primarily elected officials.
“Unfortunately, they don't think any of us in this room are stakeholders,” Carter said.
The OTA did not have any updates regarding where the South Extension Turnpike plan will be rerouted. Angier said the OTA began its study last week, which will determine where the new path of the South Extension will run.
Amy Cerato, OU civil engineering professor and president of Pike Off OTA, said there are at least three options the organization could pursue: the legislature, courts and an initiative petition. However, Cerato said Pike Off OTA is already planning further legal action against the turnpike authority.
“We know that we're on the money because this legislative session, the OTA is changing the statutes,” Cerato said. “They're trying to change it in the legislature right now to erase everything that we brought to light in our lawsuits.”
Cerato gave residents a call to action, saying the organization is seeking 12 to 15 new litigants willing to join a future lawsuit against the OTA.
Despite this, Carter stressed to those in attendance that the organization has seen legislative progress against the OTA. Sen. Lisa Standridge (R-Norman) introduced several bills related to the OTA.
Senate Bill 493 would prohibit the OTA from constructing any section of turnpike west of Lake Thunderbird, meaning the authority would have to build east of the lake. The bill would also outlaw members of the OTA from transacting with the authority or any business person, corporation or firm, resulting in a felony and five years of incarceration and/or a $500 to $5,000 fine.
Senate Bill 80 would require the OTA to have a public comment period for individuals to submit written data, views or arguments at least 30 days following publication.
Sen. Mary Boren (D-Norman), a critic of the OTA since 2022, was in attendance. Boren said a nonelected body exercising eminent domain raises constitutional issues and called on residents to join against the OTA.
“If you don't do it, I can guarantee nobody else is gonna save y’all’s home,” Boren said.
Mayor-elect and Ward 7 Councilmember Stephen Tyler Holman, spoke at the meeting. As the city’s next mayor, Holman said he has no intentions of working with the OTA.
“There is plenty of growth and economic development happening in the city right now,” Holman said. “… So I don't buy the idea that this turnpike is necessary for economic development.”
Ward 5 Councilmember Michael Nash, who was reelected in February, was also in attendance. Nash, a founding member of Pike Off OTA, said he welcomes all emails or questions from constituents about the turnpike.
Many Normanites at the forum felt frustrated with what they deem to be a lack of political support at the state level. One resident called others at the town hall to action, advocating for voting out those who don’t back their interests.
“It’s time for us, we the people, to get tough and tell our legislators (that) you can be primaried, you can be recalled,” a resident said. “We have that power, and we’re going to have to raise our voices.”
An attendee asked why the OTA’s communication with potentially impacted residents may be lacking. Carter said he received no answers each time he called the authority and was instructed to call a routine phone number, which is why the OTA was not invited to the forum.
Residents also expressed their concerns about the health impacts of living directly next to a turnpike. According to Cerato, the OTA does not voluntarily install sound barriers or test well water following turnpike construction.
“There's lots of detrimental effects living next to a turnpike,” Cerato said. “You can hear it, you can feel it, you can smell it, you can see it.”
Despite their concerns, the organization encouraged residents to not lose hope in their fight against the OTA. When asked what residents can do, Kelly Wilson, a member of Pike Off OTA, instructed Normanites to attend city council meetings and continue making their voices heard.
“We need to stay on top of council. We need to be at meetings. We need to be present,” Wilson said. “We need to be emailing our council members (and) letting them know that we do not want the South Extension; we don’t want the East-West Connector. We don’t want any of it.”
Lisa Shearer-Salim, OTA communication and marketing manager, wrote in an email to OU Daily that the turnpike’s effects on property owners will remain unknown until the study proceeds.
“There is no way to know at this time what property impacts might be,” Shearer-Salim wrote in the email.
Carter said he spoke with engineers working on the South Extension Turnpike earlier Wednesday. Carter said engineers will not know for certain where the turnpike will be rerouted for about a year.
“Don't worry about that yet because we're literally at least a year away from even getting a letter that they're going to come survey your land,” Cerato said.
Cerato said Pike Off OTA will continue to hold educational forums, so residents are informed about the turnpike authority. Cerato also advised residents to say no to OTA land surveyors and offers to purchase land.
“I feel like it's still the wild wild west,” Cerato said. “We follow the laws, but people with a whole bunch of billions of dollars never follow the law.”
Angier said the OTA is trying to do the “right thing” for the public and has no personal gain in turnpike construction. When asked about the town hall, she said it platformed misinformation about the turnpike and instruction to not interact with the OTA concerned her.
“That is tantamount to saying don't call the tax commission,” Angier said. “To tell them that, to me, is a very scary scare tactic and a power grab because we are the source of the information.”
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure and Ismael Lele. Gretchen Schultz and Avery Avery copy edited this story.
