OKLAHOMA CITY – The H.E. Bailey Turnpike is the fifth-busiest highway on Oklahoma’s transportation system of 10 toll roads. In addition, three of the state’s top 25 issuers of the electronic PikePass in July are located in Comanche County.
OKLAHOMA CITY – The H.E. Bailey Turnpike is the fifth-busiest highway on Oklahoma’s transportation system of 10 toll roads. In addition, three of the state’s top 25 issuers of the electronic PikePass in July are located in Comanche County.
The Bailey generated more than $3 million in July, including $3,039,953 in tolls plus $27,617 in concession revenue, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) ledgers show; that was a 7% increase over July 2018. The increase was attributed at least in part to toll hikes that went into effect July 15, the OTA noted.
Nearly 63% of the H.E.B. toll revenue was produced from Oklahoma’s PikePass and similar interoperable devices employed in Texas and Kansas; almost 26.5% of the tolls were collected in attended lanes of the highway, and the remaining 10.6% was derived from money inserted into coin machines.
Two-axle cars, pickups, and small trucks accounted for 73.8% of the Bailey’s toll receipts, and three- to six-axle vehicles (such as semitrailer rigs) provided the other 26.2%.
The H.E. Bailey Turnpike produced $19,628,785 in toll receipts during the first seven months of this year; that was a 3.9% increase over the same period last year. Gross toll receipts systemwide in the first seven months of this year totaled $191.55 million.
The OTA reported spending almost $1.59 million on non-structural maintenance systemwide from Jan. 1 through July 31. That included $401,882 for brush and weed control, $364,297 on vegetation management, and $822,909 for trash removal.
Of the top 25 PikePass customer service agents across the state in July, the Lawton-Fort Sill Tag Agency ranked fourth with sales of 345 of the transponders; the Comanche County Tag
Agency in Lawton ranked tenth with 249 sales; and the Elgin Tag Agency sold 155.
According to the OTA, the top 25 customer service agents issued 5,753 PikePasses in July and the remaining 64 CSAs issued 4,227 of the transponders.
By the end of July, the Turnpike Authority counted 1.9 million active PikePasses issued to a little over 770,000 PikePass accounts.