Oklahoma Turnpike Authority outlines $8 billion Access Oklahoma projects affecting Edmond area

Jeff Gardner, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s director of construction, briefed the Edmond City Council on a slate of Access Oklahoma bond‑program projects that the authority says will address growing traffic in North Oklahoma City and South Edmond.

Gardner said the program is a just‑over $8 billion, 15‑year effort to add capacity and new interchanges across the turnpike system. He told the council the John Kilpatrick Turnpike will be widened to six lanes between West Wilshire Boulevard and north of Northwest 122nd Street and that work includes widening the bridge over Northwest Expressway and replacing legacy cash‑toll infrastructure with new tolling gantries to serve six lanes. He said the contract for that segment was awarded to DoIT Construction; the authority expects construction to start in November 2025 and to be substantially complete in spring 2027.

Gardner also described an interchange modification at North Council Road that adds a protected turnaround lane on Westbound Memorial Road, widens Westbound Memorial between Rockwell and Council, and adds a new on‑ramp from Eastbound Memorial to the John Kilpatrick. He said the OTA board awarded that $12.1 million contract to Allen Contracting and expects work to begin in late spring or early summer, with a three‑hundred‑ten calendar‑day schedule.

A third John Kilpatrick project would add a fully directional County Line Road interchange and extend westbound Memorial Road to County Line Road; Gardner said that work is estimated at about $61 million and is anticipated to begin in fall 2026. On the Turner Turnpike, split bridges over Arcadia Lake between I‑35 and Midwest Boulevard will be replaced by one widened bridge to accommodate six lanes; Allen Contracting was awarded that nearly $22 million contract and OTA expects construction to begin mid‑2026 and take about a year.

Gardner framed the projects as responses to rapidly growing traffic: he said more than 40,000 vehicles per day currently use a section of the John Kilpatrick Turnpike and projected that traffic could surpass 90,000 vehicles per day by 2055. He also noted contractual incentives for early completion — for example, up to $15,000 per day for up to 20 days on the Kilpatrick widening and up to $10,000 per day for up to 45 days on the Turner Turnpike bridge work.

Councilors asked procedural and timing questions; Gardner said the Kilpatrick widening will keep two lanes open in each direction and that short‑term overnight closures are possible for bridge beam work. The presentation concluded with council gratitude for the update and no action required from the city.