Commission approves Oklahoma DOT’s $6.4 billion, 8-year Construction Work Plan

Updated Oct 7, 2016
Photo Credit: Jimmy Emerson/FlickrPhoto Credit: Jimmy Emerson/Flickr

The Oklahoma Transportation Commission has approved the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Eight-year Construction Work Plan for 2017-2024 with roughly $6.4 billion in funding for more than 1,600 bridge and highway projects.

The plan also includes a $466 million Asset Preservation plan covering 2017-2020, with preventative maintenance and accessibility projects.

ODOT says the Eight-year Plan is balanced each year with “anticipated transportation funding,” and prioritizes the agency’s commitment to “address all known structurally deficient highway bridges.

Roughly 17 percent of the states 6,800 highway bridges were rated as structurally deficient, and now the agency reports less than 5 percent are in that condition. These bridges are slated for major rehabilitation or replacement by 2020.

“Just over a decade ago, Oklahoma had some of the worst bridges in the nation and no funding solution for our major highway needs or asset preservation,” says Executive Director Mike Patterson. “We have seen great progress and major improvements in recent years, but the budget challenges facing the state mean ODOT will be unable to maintain the pace of progress.”

The 2017-2024 Eight-year plan includes:

  • Nearly $6.4 billion in federal and state transportation funding
  • 1,616 total projects
  • 824 highway bridge replacements or major rehabilitations
  • 751 miles of added shoulders or other improvements to two-lane highways
  • 152 miles of interstate pavement improvements
  • $370 million in projects to address urban highway congestion

The Asset Preservation Plan projects include pavement resurfacing and rehabilitation and bridge rehabilitation, painting and covers 411 projects targeting 164 bridges and about 1,300 miles of pavement. It also includes for the first time 45 projects designed to improve highways meeting Americans with Disabilities Act standards.

Details of the full Eight-year plan are available at www.odot.org under Programs and Projects.