OKLAHOMA CITY – A $13.76 million contract was awarded recently to rehabilitate almost 24 miles of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike.
The 55-year-old toll road will receive a dowel bar retrofit between milepost 78, at about the south edge of Chickasha, and milepost 101.6, near the SH-9 leg that branches off toward Norman. In the project, metal dowel bars that link adjoining slabs of pavement will be installed to restore load transfer across joints and cracks. Linking the slabs will prevent the formation of “faults” or “step-offs” that cause a rough ride and “wheel slap.” The steel dowels are 18 inches long and 11⁄2 inches in diameter. The dowels are inserted in slots that are cut across cracks and joints. The slots are then backfilled with non-shrink concrete.
After the dowel bars are installed, about a quarter-inch of the concrete surfacing will be shaved off with a diamond-tipped grinder “to smooth the pavement and extend the life of the pavement,” said Jack Damrill, director of communications and facilities for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA). The Turnpike Authority awarded the maintenance contract to Interstate Improvement of Faribault, Minn., the low bidder for the job. The OTA identified 555 maintenance projects needed on the Bailey this year, and 451 of them were completed by the end of October, the agency reported.
The OTA collected $3,009,726 in tolls and concession fees on the HEB toll road in October 2019, compared to $2.8 million in October 2018, a 6.8% increase. During the first 10 months of this year the Bailey generated $28.5 million in toll revenue, 4.9% more than it did during the same period last year, according to Wendy Smith, the OTA’s director of finance and revenue. The HEB is the fifth-biggest revenue producer of the agency’s 10 turnpikes, ledgers reflect. Two-axle vehicles such as cars, pickups and small trucks accounted for 73.2% of the Bailey’s toll receipts in October. Vehicles with three to six axles, such as tractor-trailer rigs, produced the other 26.8% of the revenue.
Nearly two-thirds of the Bailey’s toll revenue in October was produced from electronic devices, primarily the PikePass but also interoperable devices employed in Texas (such as the North Texas Turnpike Authority) and Kansas (the Kansas Turnpike Authority). A little over 26% of the toll revenue was generated in attended lanes of the turnpike, and coin machines accounted for the 8.3% balance.