NewsOK
Published: August 25, 2010
Shortly after the Kilpatrick Turnpike opened in September 1991, a group of turnpike officials from around the world who were in Oklahoma City for a meeting were taken to see the new roadway and the electronic PikePass system.
"What they saw was a toll road so scarcely used that the visitors were able to mill around the toll plaza," reporter John Greiner wrote for The Oklahoman. "Some of them even stood briefly in the traffic lanes and looked at the automatic equipment."
Much has changed since then. The Kilpatrick, and the Creek Turnpike in Tulsa, are now so heavily traveled that both roads will be widened to six lanes in their busiest stretches.
In announcing the plans, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority said about 54,000 vehicles per day travel on the stretch of the Kilpatrick Turnpike to be widened; the figure is 53,000 for the slice of the Creek that'll see another lane added. They were built to handle about 65,000 vehicles per day. Turnpike officials say traffic is increasing by about 5 percent each year, which means it won't be long before more room is needed... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Wed, August 25, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski