OKLAHOMA CITY – The state Turnpike Authority awarded two contracts to rebuild shoulders and guardrails along 13.4 miles of the H.E. Bailey, and approved a seasonal mowing contract for the 60-year-old toll road.
The OTA also voted to buy 20 new fully equipped pursuit vehicles for Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers who monitor traffic on the state’s turnpikes; learned that OTA customer service personnel answered more than a million calls last year; and received a positive financial report.
Haskell Lemon Group was the lowest of five bidders for a contract to rebuild shoulders and replace guardrails along a 16-mile section of the H.E. Bailey north of Fletcher and Elgin, between mile posts 62 and 78. The winning bid, $8.9 million, was “about 23.1% below the engineer’s estimate,” OTA Engineering Director Darian Butler said.
T.J. Campbell Construction was the lowest of five bidders for a contract to rebuild shoulders and replace guardrails on a 12.6-mile section of the Bailey near Chickasha, between mile posts 89 and 101.6. The job also will include installation of mountable curb, new curb inlets and slotted inlet drains, plus removal of an inside lane curbed median from MP 79.5 to MP 80.3. The winning bid, $8.63 million, was approximately 16.6% below the engineer’s estimate, Butler said.
Average daily traffic volume last year in that area ranged from 14,360 at MP 58 to 25,177 at MP 88. The average daily traffic count last year at the Interstate 44 junction with US-62 at Lawton was 21,928, and the ADT count at MP 10 was 7,626, according to the OTA.
In another related matter, the Turnpike Authority approved a $399,252 contract with MTS Brush Hogging for mowing, trimming, and perhaps hay baling of designated right-of-way, interchanges, toll plaza areas, and median areas along the H.E. Bailey, to include hand trimming around bridges, guardrail, bridge headers, sign structures, trees and drop inlets.
Transportation Manager Jeremy Smith said the contract area will include 1,343 clear zone acres and 2,929 acres outside the clear zone: from MP 5.6 near Randlett and the US-70 interchange to MP 30 south of Lawton, and MP 46 near the SH-49/ SH-58 junction to MP 107 at the turnpike’s Newcastle entrance, plus the Norman Spur consisting of eight miles.
The average cost per acre is about $28, Smith said.
The original mowing contract was for one year with two oneyear extension options. This is the first of those extensions, Smith said.
Toll transactions on the H.E. Bailey in February 2024 numbered 1.64 million, 130,000 more than in February 2023, said Lisa Shearer-Salim, OTA communication and marketing manager. A little over threefourths of the toll transactions were logged via PIKEPASS transponders.
Those February transactions collectively generated $2.78 million in toll revenue. Of that amount, 70.5% was produced from PIKEPASSes and 21.3% was PlatePay revenue, OTA Finance Director Wendy Smith told Southwest Ledger. The 8.2% balance was attributed to vehicles from states such as Texas and Kansas equipped with electronic toll-collection devices that are interoperable with Oklahoma’s system.
OTA equipment showed that 84.4% of the February toll transactions on the Bailey were generated by two-axle vehicles, and 15.6% were from vehicles with three to six axles, primarily 18-wheel semi-trailer rigs equipped with five axles.
Heavy truck traffic on Oklahoma turnpikes increased by 9.1% in February compared to the same month last year, Smith said.
In hot pursuit The Turnpike Authority voted unanimously to buy and equip 20 new 4x2 Tahoe pursuit vehicles for the 11 full-time state troopers who police traffic on the state’s toll roads. The vehicles will be purchased from Cooper Auto Group and the price tag will total $1.88 million.
When asked why the OHP didn’t request 4x4s instead, Major Garrett Vowell said 4x4s are not used for patrol because they are not rated for pursuit speeds.
OHP troopers made 3,883 violator contacts, assisted 514 motorists, and investigated 91 motor vehicle collisions on Oklahoma turnpikes in February, Vowell reported. The troopers amassed 175,129 miles of driving that month, including 26,443 miles on the H.E. Bailey, and averaged 186 miles per shift, he said.
Also that month, troopers devoted 159 hours to toll enforcement on the turnpike system, during which they issued 96 citations and 389 warnings, Vowell said.
Healthy finances, customer service Net toll revenues in February 2024 were 15% higher than receipts in February 2023, Smith said.
The OTA continues to maintain “a consistently conservative approach to spending,” she said; division managers held revenue fund operating expenses to 27% under the 2024 operating and maintenance budget.
The agency’s bonds command a ‘AA minus’ rating, Smith noted.
Marcus Williams, OTA’s customer service director, related that when he joined the agency in 2018, “We averaged 45,000 calls per month.” The call volume doubled in five years: in 2023 the Customer Service Department answered 1,077,342 calls – an average of 89,778.5 per month – he announced.
“The voice of the Turnpike Authority is customer service,” Williams said.
“At least 90% of the compliments I get about the Turnpike Authority are on customer service,” said OTA member Gene Love of Lawton.