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ODOT tells lawmakers inflation and falling fuel revenues are widening repair backlog
Summary
Director Gatz told a legislative appropriations committee that rising construction costs and declining motor-fuel tax collections are reducing ODOT’s buying power and stretching an estimated $27 billion state repair backlog.
Director Gatz, head of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), told members of a legislative budget oversight panel that the agency faces a growing mismatch between transportation needs and revenue.
Gatz said ODOT estimates the state-owned highway system’s replacement-value at about $102,000,000,000 and described a “state of good repair” backlog—work ODOT says is needed to restore the system—of roughly $27,000,000,000. He said the department’s eight-year construction work plan totals about $8,600,000,000, or roughly $1,100,000,000 per year, and that the plan targets major rehabilitation projects while asset-preservation contracts and routine maintenance cover overlays, bridge rehabs and day-to-day repairs.
Why it matters: ODOT argued in the hearing that two trends are reducing its effective purchasing power and slowing the pace of work: construction cost…
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