Oklahoma Turnpike hikes tolls ahead of $1 billion bond sale

Ahead of a $1 billion bond sale early next year for an expansion program with rising costs, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority hiked toll rates after receiving state oversight approval for the debt. 

The toll increase effective Jan. 1, which was unanimously approved by the OTA board on Tuesday, is aimed at increasing systemwide toll revenue by 15%, while simplifying vehicle classifications, according to OTA Finance Director Wendy Smith. 

“Beginning Jan. 1 of 2027 and on each two-year anniversary date thereafter, toll rates for the Oklahoma Turnpike system will be automatically adjusted by an increase of 6% to reflect inflation,” she told the board.

The OTA’s fiscal 2025 budget, which was adopted Nov. 7 before the toll hike approval, expected toll revenue to total $377.47 million this year, rising to nearly $381.8 million in 2025.

OTA Executive Director Joe Echelle said the toll increase is necessary for the continuation of the 15-year ACCESS Oklahoma (Advancing and Connecting Communities and Economies Safely Statewide) program, which was officially launched by Gov. Kevin Stitt in February 2022 to widen existing toll roads and build new ones. 

“If we can agree that those projects are necessary, then the only way that the turnpike authority can take those on is through this toll increase,” he said on Tuesday.

In November, Echelle revealed the program’s projected price tag had risen to $8.2 billion from $5 billion as inflation boosted costs and projects were added. 

State lawmakers are beginning to voice displeasure with the toll hike.

This week, Republican State Rep. Gabe Woolley and Democratic State Rep. Annie Menz called for legislative oversight of toll increases.

“Any fee increases from the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority should be approved by the state Legislature, as this would put the power back into the hands of the people via their elected officials,” Woolley said in a statement on Friday.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers targeted the OTA with a barrage of reform bills in 2023 with only one measure, which changed the authority’s governance structure, passing in the Republican-controlled legislature.

Echelle said the toll hike will put the authority “in good position” as it meets with rating agencies ahead of a January or February pricing of $1 billion of second senior revenue bonds approved by the OTA board in November and by the Oklahoma Council of Bond Oversight Dec. 5.

An initial $500 million of bonds sold for the program in October 2023 were rated Aa3 by Moody’s Ratings and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings — all with stable outlooks.

Litigation brought by property owners in the path of tollway expansion projects delayed that issuance. After the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in the turnpike’s favor in the lawsuits in May 2023, justices subsequently validated the initial debt in a 6-3 decision. 

Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, which is battling the ACCESS program, called for a third-party feasibility study and compliance review for the upcoming bonds and the postponement of any future bond sales until an investigative state audit of OTA ordered by Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond last year is completed.