The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority will announce a revised South Extension Turnpike alignment at 2 p.m. Sept. 23. The announcement will be livestreamed to allow those impacted in Cleveland and McClain counties to hear the information directly from OTA at the same time. The public may find the livestream at the following locations online: • OTA’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ OKTurnpike
• OTA’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube. com/@OklahomaTurnpike-Authority and
• https://video.ibm.com/ channel/jsW2fC3uurE OTA will offer three Homeowner Open Houses on September 24, September 27 and September 29 for those with property along the new alignment. The location of the meetings will be announced in a few days. OTA hopes to now put their focus on property owners who may be impacted as its first priority.
As engineering design progresses, property owners will be kept up to date on the parcels needed, OTA officials said. The final design that will determine property acquisition is more than a year away, but OTA will continue to be available to those property owners to answer questions throughout the process.
OTA South Extension Background
Construction of the South Extension Turnpike is part of the OTA’s ACCESS Oklahoma long-range plan and is slated to open to traffic by 2034. The new 19-mile toll road will connect I-35 near Purcell to the future East-West Connector turnpike near Indian Hills Rd. at the Norman/Oklahoma City line.
This route was validated by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in 2023 as legally authorized in state statute. The original alignment announced in 2022 must move to the west after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said the turnpike project is not compatible with its federal fee title land uses near Lake Thunderbird.
This new transportation corridor will provide an alternate route for I-35 traffic from Southern Oklahoma heading to Eastern and Northeastern Oklahoma and regionally. It also will provide an additional South Canadian River crossing.
Property owners with questions may reach out to OTA at any time at 1-844-56-ACCES(S) or [email protected].
