Oklahoma Turnpike Authority

[TheTravellers]

Here is an update to this topic.

https://www.normantranscript.com/new...0dfd069.htmlIt
... is the second time Labarthe accused OTA of changing its agendas. In a motion to depose OTA employees Oct. 19, he included court exhibits alleging OTA had amended both meeting agendas.

The Jan. 25 meeting was created on Jan. 18 by OTA employee Todd Gore and amended on Feb. 13 while the Feb. 22 meeting created on Feb. 13 by OTA employee Jenny Johnson was amended Feb. 23, court exhibits indicated.

Cameron Smith, an information technology expert and Army intelligence officer, told the court he saw the article about the amended agenda allegations in The Transcript and volunteered to help Ward.

Smith, who also worked for the Air Force, is a contractor for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

After learning that two Norman residents listed in the lawsuit downloaded the five-page agendas, Smith said he searched for the original agendas using the “Wayback Machine,” a web tool that captures original internet pages before the pages are modified or taken down.

Pikepass.com now shows 47 pages, “which purports to be the agenda” for the January meeting, and 52 pages for the February agenda, his statement to the court reads.

“Each of these differs tremendously from what the Wayback Machine revealed, namely that each of these was but a five-page document as posted by the OTA on its website,” according to Smith’s statement.

Man.....

BTW, the link needs to be edited and have the "it" at the end taken out so it ends in just .html

[Jersey Boss]

Edit made.

[jn1780]

The only thing I can see is that the two OTA workers who edited the documents need to be taught the difference between an Agenda and post meeting notes or minutes. Everything that was talked about in the meeting is contained in the original 5 pages. You don't typically see the details in the 35 page version in an Agenda.

[mugofbeer]

The only thing I can see is that the two OTA workers who edited the documents need to be taught the difference between an Agenda and post meeting notes or minutes. Everything that was talked about in the meeting is contained in the original 5 pages. You don't typically see the details in the 35 page version in an Agenda.

But that wouldn't serve to promote the atmosphere of conspiracy and crookedness.

[catch22]

I usually look for Occam's Razor in most situations and this is one of them. The easiest explanation is usually the correct one. Someone messed up.

[David]

I gotta admit, I am annoyed that I didn't think of doing an internet archive search in spite of going to the trouble of finding the posted agenda URLs.

The two internet archive links, for the record:
https://web.archive.org/web/20220000000000*/https://pikepass.com/pdf/25January2022_Agenda.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20220000...2%20Agenda.pdf

[rte66man]

Is there a map of this project? With the intersection of all 3 roads (HWY 74, Kilpatrick, and Memorial) where exactly are the turnabouts going? I would assume along east and west Memorial road under the Kilpatrick Bridge and Over HWY74?

You are correct. Wouldn't make much sense the other way as there aren't any frontage roads to the south

[Jeepnokc]

I heard a rumor that the airport is not going to let the turnpike go across the west part of airport land shifting the connection between I 44 and airport road west. Has anyone heard this?

[Snowman]

I heard a rumor that the airport is not going to let the turnpike go across the west part of airport land shifting the connection between I 44 and airport road west. Has anyone heard this?

That would not surprise me, the airport has long had another theoretical parallel north/south runway that has been on master plans southwest of the current runways/taxiways (though like a mile offset, so think 74th to 104th for length estimate), that OTA probably thought looked like a fantastic width of open land for a highway. Who knows if it will ever be built, but that does not mean the airport's hope it might has died. Plus if FAA funds have been involved with acquiring that land might make that beyond the airports option to transfer if they wanted to.

[Plutonic Panda]

I had heard from several people at the OTA the airport turnpike project was the most likely to undergo significant changes. If Hoffmeister wins the entire program might in jeopardy anyways as she said she’s against much of the proposed expansions.

[catch22]

Well it does encroach on their master plan so it is absolutely their duty to defend that.

However, this 3rd parallel runway will never be needed and if it did the master plan adopted by previous airport administrations was illogical and short sighted. The 3rd parallel runway always should have been immediately east of the airport where the current Portland Ave and ARINC, SkyWest, etc are. Hangars can go anywhere, they don’t immediate runway access. Runways are best closer together (but outside of runway spacing requirements of course). An aviation based approach would place that runway there, put the warehouses to that unused space on the south, and the retail and hotel plans on the north. Instead several previous airport admins have allowed consultants to pick the best site for retail and warehouses (Lariat Landing) which need no runway access: to dictate where the actual aviation uses need to go. And besides a Kum and Go, there is no retail in almost a decade since Lariat Landing broke ground. Just Amazon which again could go south of all of the runways and be in an equivalent interstate access position,

[s00nr1]

Let's hope she wins.

I had heard from several people at the OTA the airport turnpike project was the most likely to undergo significant changes. If Hoffmeister wins the entire program might in jeopardy anyways as she said she’s against much of the proposed expansions.

[Martin]

i'm not sure that it will make much of a difference... if the bonds are issued before the next term begins, there isn't much a new governor could do to stop it.

[Plutonic Panda]

i'm not sure that it will make much of a difference... if the bonds are issued before the next term begins, there isn't much a new governor could do to stop it.

I hope that’s the case. But I don’t think all the bonds have been issued yet. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and sad that if she does win and cancels this expansion. Hopefully if she does win she’ll have a change of heart.

PS, I’m not endorsing any of these governors either way I just want to see these roads built. Lol

[jn1780]

Stitt will probably survive. If national politics were different, OK voters wouldn't be as willing to look past his corruption. The weaknesses of our two party system will win out

[BoulderSooner]

Stitt will probably survive.

he did a little more then "survive"


either way the Turnpike expansions should now move full steam ahead ..

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^^ hopefully so. It will be nice when construction actually starts on the south OKC metro projects

[jedicurt]

^^^^ hopefully so. It will be nice when construction actually starts on the south OKC metro projects

agreed. i feel like i'm the only person in Norman who actually wants this. But then again, i will use it regularly.

[bombermwc]

Well the bond is up for debate in the courts....again. Something about the size of the bond being more than the law allows or something. I mean all the OTA has to do is split it in to two projects if that's the case. So i dont see this as anything other than a delay tactic. It's also entirely possible that they just build it anyway and charge a higher toll rate (that they will never decrease). So i dont think this will really change anything about the project.

[Plutonic Panda]

The OTA has joined an app called PlusPass which allows you to manage your account and payment methods on it:

https://okcfox.com/news/local/oklaho...ss-mobile-app#

[MagzOK]

The OTA has joined an app called PlusPass which allows you to manage your account and payment methods on it:

https://okcfox.com/news/local/oklaho...ss-mobile-app#

^^
I hope this works well. I had long been a PikePass customer but have always hated their online services. I finally got fed up with it and when the pikepass/tolltag interoperability thing started, I joined NTTA in north Texas. It has an extremely easy website and app for the phone to manage your account.

[mugofbeer]

I hope that eventually, these toll apps get the ability to work nationwide. ie. Pay a toll in CO, it gets billed to your OK account, & vice versa.

[LakeEffect]

I hope that eventually, these toll apps get the ability to work nationwide. ie. Pay a toll in CO, it gets billed to your OK account, & vice versa.

It's supposed to be that way...

"This year marks the tenth anniversary of the landmark federal MAP-21 legislation that put a simple mandate to the toll industry, requiring that all federal-aid highway toll facilities implement technologies or business practices that provide for the interoperability of electronic toll collection by October 1, 2016 (four years after the enactment of the legislation)."

https://www.ibtta.org/blog/electroni...eparing-future (it's a tolling industry article, so it sheds light from their side on why the law hasn't been met, but it's still a good data source)

[Plutonic Panda]

^^^ they don’t seem to be enforcing that initiative in any way shape or form. I’ll be more excited when the OTA becomes interoperable with FastTrak or EZPass(as sh!t as I think that system is).

[Swake]

^^^ they don’t seem to be enforcing that initiative in any way shape or form. I’ll be more excited when the OTA becomes interoperable with FastTrak or EZPass(as sh!t as I think that system is).

It's not so much OTA becoming interoperable with EZPass as EZPass getting with 21st century technology and becoming interoperable with OTA. They still use those velcro transponders from 20 years ago.