OTA discussing AET, may begin next year

[okc1]

OTA may implement AET "either as soon as" (sic) next year. https://www.velocityokc.com/blog/development/oklahoma-turnpike-authority-wrapping-up-expansion-projects-in-okc/?utm_source=VeloCityEmail&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=IntDevelopment&utm_content=TurnpikeUpdate7_7_20

[bugo]

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's extension of the Turner Turnpike to Interstate 40 is expected to be completed by early 2021, with one portion opening this fall.

What? The Turner Turnpike ends at I-35. It isn't being extended to I-40. I don't think she's talking about the Kilpatrick because it has connected to I-40 for years. This is a poorly written article.

[kphoger]

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's extension of the Turner Turnpike to Interstate 40 is expected to be completed by early 2021, with one portion opening this fall.

What? The Turner Turnpike ends at I-35. It isn't being extended to I-40. I don't think she's talking about the Kilpatrick because it has connected to I-40 for years. This is a poorly written article.

I think she meant the Kickapoo.

[Stephane Dumas]

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's extension of the Turner Turnpike to Interstate 40 is expected to be completed by early 2021, with one portion opening this fall.

What? The Turner Turnpike ends at I-35. It isn't being extended to I-40. I don't think she's talking about the Kilpatrick because it has connected to I-40 for years. This is a poorly written article.

I think she meant the Kickapoo.

That's why I think too, maybe she think the Kickapoo might act as a spur of Turner tpk.

[kphoger]

The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority's extension of the Turner Turnpike to Interstate 40 is expected to be completed by early 2021, with one portion opening this fall.

What? The Turner Turnpike ends at I-35. It isn't being extended to I-40. I don't think she's talking about the Kilpatrick because it has connected to I-40 for years. This is a poorly written article.

I think she meant the Kickapoo.

That's why I think too, maybe she think the Kickapoo might act as a spur of Turner tpk.

The article basically says as much, suggesting that some Tulsa-Lawton traffic will hopefully take I-44→Kickapoo→I-40→I-240→I-44 to get there.

[dchristy]

Having traveled the new extension of the Kirkpatrick, I have found it a much faster route to get to the Bailey Turnpike.  Also, I hope they can fast track the additional lane on I40 to Shawnee.  That can be a huge mess, especially going east.

[Mdcastle]

Are the various toll roads in the Texas / Oklahoma / Kansas block all interoperable now? These all use Sego / 6B don't they and do any agencies have multi-channel reader capability?

[Bobby5280]

I don't know about K-Tag interoperability in Texas or vice versa. But PikePass now (finally) works on all the toll roads in Texas as well as Kansas.

Having traveled the new extension of the Kirkpatrick, I have found it a much faster route to get to the Bailey Turnpike. Also, I hope they can fast track the additional lane on I40 to Shawnee. That can be a huge mess, especially going east.

That's not a route I'm going to take driving up from Lawton to Northern OKC or Edmond. If I was going to drive to Edmond by way of the Kilpatrick Turnpike I'd leave the H.E. Bailey Turnpike at the I-44/OK-4 interchange just North of the toll plaza and take OK-4 up through Mustang along Sara Road. That's a far more direct path than the U-shaped route of using Airport Road to get to the Kilpatrick Turnpike. There are traffic signals on OK-4 at the intersections of OK-37, OK-152 and SW 15th as well as 4-way stops at SW 59th and SW 29th. Still, I think I can get up to I-40 faster that way than staying on I-44 up to Airport Road.

It's too bad ODOT and OTA couldn't secure all the ROW needed alongside S Sara Road 20+ years ago when work got started on the concept. OK-4 has a bit of turnpike-wide ROW from I-44 up to Rock Creek Road. The OK-4 Canadian River bridge crossing is Interstate quality. ODOT and OTA dropped the ball on the rest of it. The same can be said for the H.E. Bailey Turnpike extension, which goes only halfway from I-44 to I-35.

[kphoger]

There are exceptions.  For example, NTTA stickers work in Oklahoma but hard-shell NTTA transponders do not.  PikePASS works in Texas but not at DFW or Love Field airport parking.  Figuring out what exactly works where across all of KS/OK/TX would take some time.

[wxfree]

There are exceptions.  For example, NTTA stickers work in Oklahoma but hard-shell NTTA transponders do not.  PikePASS works in Texas but not at DFW or Love Field airport parking.  Figuring out what exactly works where across all of KS/OK/TX would take some time.

It is a little complicated.  NTTA says that only sticker-type TollTags backed by a credit or debit card work in Oklahoma.  It doesn't say anything about Kansas.  I would guess that a sticker-type tag is required, but I don't know if automatic payments are required.  KTA doesn't say anything about it.

Sticker-type tags with automatic payment are also required for use at the airports (if the cost is above a certain amount, instead of charging your TollTag account it will be charged directly to your card).  To me, this doesn't relate to interoperability, because they're not toll roads, although the road through DFW can be treated like a toll road if you just drive across.  The entry fee and parking fees are collected by the airports, and they accept TollTag for convenience.  They seem to have no interest in accepting other tags.  I don't see that as interoperability, because it isn't under NTTA's control, but as an extra benefit exclusive to TollTag.

The other exception I can think of is the toll bridges at the border.  As far as I know, those are all different from the rest of the state and don't accept TxTag or anything else in the interoperability mix.

[J N Winkler]

K-Tag works on all toll roads in Oklahoma and Texas and in fact had interoperability with Texas agencies other than NTTA long before PikePass did.  Beyond that, I can't comment on the nuances of hardshell versus sticker-type.  I have a sticker-type K-Tag and I have found it actually works better on OTA and NTTA facilities than in Kansas; I suspect this is due to technical aspects of how KTA implements ETC on its facilities.  I haven't tried using my K-Tag on EZ-Tag or TxTag facilities since interoperability with Texas had not been implemented as of my last visit to Houston and transit through Austin.

[rte66man]

Having traveled the new extension of the Kilpatrick, I have found it a much faster route to get to the Bailey Turnpike.  Also, I hope they can fast track the additional lane on I40 to Shawnee.  That can be a huge mess, especially going east.

ftfy

If you can stomach the tolls, it is faster even accounting for the double back to the airport on the SW side. 

[bwana39]

K-Tag works on all toll roads in Oklahoma and Texas and in fact had interoperability with Texas agencies other than NTTA long before PikePass did.  Beyond that, I can't comment on the nuances of hardshell versus sticker-type.  I have a sticker-type K-Tag and I have found it actually works better on OTA and NTTA facilities than in Kansas; I suspect this is due to technical aspects of how KTA implements ETC on its facilities.  I haven't tried using my K-Tag on EZ-Tag or TxTag facilities since interoperability with Texas had not been implemented as of my last visit to Houston and transit through Austin.

If your tag needs in Kansas are covered by NTTA, why not get a TollTag?  They do work throughout Texas and Oklahoma. If they work in Kansas to fit your needs, it might be the better choice.

[J N Winkler]

If your tag needs in Kansas are covered by NTTA, why not get a TollTag?  They do work throughout Texas and Oklahoma. If they work in Kansas to fit your needs, it might be the better choice.

There is no advantage since all of Texas went live for K-Tag holders at the same time and the the current interoperability agreement mandates uniform electronic tolls regardless of who issues the tag (no transponder discrimination).

I have had a K-Tag since the spring of 2016.  At that time, K-Tag was interoperable with PikePass only, and PikePass was additionally interoperable with TollTag only.  By the time I went to Houston in the late winter of 2017, KS/OK/TX interoperability had been agreed but had not gone live.  By late 2017 it had for K-Tag, and I took advantage of it on the PGBT in October 2018.

What might have made sense back in 2016 was to get a PikePass since that would have given me access to the Kansas and Oklahoma turnpikes (which are closer to me than anything in Texas) as well as the NTTA toll roads.  I considered this option, but opted for a K-Tag instead because the sticker-type tags are free and billing is in arrears.  Though I didn't actually take advantage of it, this later gave me more flexibility in Texas since OTA dragged its feet on implementing full interoperability, with TxTag and EZTag territory not going live for PikePass holders until recently.

[kphoger]

What might have made sense back in 2016 was to get a PikePass since that would have given me access to the Kansas and Oklahoma turnpikes (which are closer to me than anything in Texas) as well as the NTTA toll roads.  I considered this option, but opted for a K-Tag instead because the sticker-type tags are free and billing is in arrears.  Though I didn't actually take advantage of it, this later gave me more flexibility in Texas since OTA dragged its feet on implementing full interoperability, with TxTag and EZTag territory not going live for PikePass holders until recently.

I got a PikePass because, back then, I expected both PikePass/KS and PikePass/TX to be interoperable before KTag/TX.  Then KTag/TX actually became interoperable before PikePass/TX.  Fortunately, by the time of my next trip to Texas, my PikePass was valid there too, so it didn't end up mattering to me.

The other exception I can think of is the toll bridges at the border.  As far as I know, those are all different from the rest of the state and don't accept TxTag or anything else in the interoperability mix.

Correct, and it really bothers me when websites say things like "works on all toll roads in Texas".  Because it isn't true.  I think they've gone away from such wording, though.

[bugo]

I have a sticker-type K-Tag and I have found it actually works better on OTA and NTTA facilities than in Kansas; I suspect this is due to technical aspects of how KTA implements ETC on its facilities. 

What do you mean by "works better"? I thought it either worked or it didn't.

[rte66man]

I have a sticker-type K-Tag and I have found it actually works better on OTA and NTTA facilities than in Kansas; I suspect this is due to technical aspects of how KTA implements ETC on its facilities. 

What do you mean by "works better"? I thought it either worked or it didn't.

I work with RFID readers in my line of work. They can be adjusted in a number of ways: strength, width, etc. Also, there are different technologies that fall under the general RFID category. When you add in tag positioning, what JN said will be true for most vehicles.

[J N Winkler]

I have a sticker-type K-Tag and I have found it actually works better on OTA and NTTA facilities than in Kansas; I suspect this is due to technical aspects of how KTA implements ETC on its facilities.

What do you mean by "works better"? I thought it either worked or it didn't.

I work with RFID readers in my line of work. They can be adjusted in a number of ways: strength, width, etc. Also, there are different technologies that fall under the general RFID category. When you add in tag positioning, what JN said will be true for most vehicles.

I don't know the specifics of what is different between KTA on the one hand and OTA/NTTA on the other, but the latter require less reduction of speed for toll gates (OTA defaults to 35 MPH for electronic lanes at barrier tolls; KTA defaults to 20 MPH for electronic lanes and 5 or 10 MPH for attended lanes), never seem to miss a read, and post to my K-Tag account right away even though they are "foreign" tolls.  KTA still has gates across many electronic toll lanes and back when I was using my K-Tag fairly heavily, I found the gate stayed down about one-tenth to one-third of the times I went through.  It is an enormous hassle when that happens on exit because a toll collector has to come out and ask you your entry point.

When a toll transaction posts right away, that is often a function of how well back-office processes work, but when the electronic lane is gated and the gate stays down, something technical is going on.

All of this is with a K-Tag that is correctly mounted to the windshield (behind the inside rearview mirror) and an account that is maintained in good standing (autopay with an unexpired credit card that is paid off in full every month).

One theory I've heard is "Kansas is cheap" (equipment to inferior specifications is used because it is less expensive).  Another is that the equipment is getting good reads but throwing them out for vehicles that don't faithfully observe the speed limit (something E-ZPass agencies like the New York Thruway have done in the past, but no longer do).