ACCESS Oklahoma

[Scott5114]

Not going to happen until California allows other tolling agencies to exchange private information (which requires California to update their privacy law)...

Why would they need to exchange anything other than the transponder number? "Hello OTA, this is Caltrans, we have a toll charge for $4.20 for Pikepass transponder 0118-999-88199-9119-725-3..." That should be enough for OTA to look it up. Ditto for any FasTrak tag scanned in Oklahoma.

[Great Lakes Roads]

From the April 7th OTA meeting:

SUBJECT: Information Technology Division
DATE: April 7, 2026
Agreement Regarding Interoperability Of Toll Systems entered into by & Between CUSIOP and EZIOP Entities

Submitted for consideration and approval of the Authority is a request to authorize the Director to negotiate and execute an Agreement regarding Interoperability of Toll Systems on behalf of the OTA as a member of the Central US Interoperability Agreement dated March 7, 2017 and the EZIOP Entities (entities that own or operate toll facilities and are parties to the E-ZPass Interagency Group Second Amended and Restated Operations Agreement dated October 14, 2021). The Agreement will serve as the underlying agreement to achieve interoperability between these parties' respective electronic toll collection systems.

Staff has reviewed the above item and recommends for approval.

Central hub region joining the E-ZPass group? I like what I'm hearing!

E-ZPass hub will be joining the Central hub region in phases.
PHASE 1 (Summer 2026)- IL, IN (ITR and Cline), MD, NC, OH, PA (PTC), UBP (MI and VA)
FUTURE PHASES- DE, FL (CFX), GA, KY, ME, MA, MN, NH, NY, RI, WV

E-ZPass will be accepted in OK, KS, CO (E-470 Public Highway authority), and TX (NTTA and Central Texas Regional Mobility Hub)
*HCTRA and NW Parkway will be accepted at a later date

Timestamp- 26:42

Decided to post this from the thread about tolling interoperability, and this is only phase I of integrating E-ZPass into the Central Hub region.

[kphoger]

Not going to happen until California allows other tolling agencies to exchange private information (which requires California to update their privacy law)...

Why would they need to exchange anything other than the transponder number? "Hello OTA, this is Caltrans, we have a toll charge for $4.20 for Pikepass transponder 0118-999-88199-9119-725-3..." That should be enough for OTA to look it up. Ditto for any FasTrak tag scanned in Oklahoma.

If the state of California needs to send me a bill in the mail, then they need to be able to get my address somehow.

In states with pay-by-plate, this means that the toll enforcement agency has to have made arrangements with the DMV of the offender's state to look up their name and address (personal information) by license plate number.  I imagine there are similar arrangements that have to be made between toll agencies.

In your second example, remember, it isn't actually Caltrans that's going to be sending the bill, but rather OTA.  So, when OTA calls up Caltrans on the phone (ha!) and asks for the name and address associated with FasTrak number 9876543210—then what?  California just gives them the personal information of one of its citizens, for only Oklahoma's benefit?  Now, the "bill" may be electronic, and the "call" may be electronic, but the privacy issue still remains and would need to be resolved by prior legal arrangement between states.

[I-55]

Not going to happen until California allows other tolling agencies to exchange private information (which requires California to update their privacy law)...

Why would they need to exchange anything other than the transponder number? "Hello OTA, this is Caltrans, we have a toll charge for $4.20 for Pikepass transponder 0118-999-88199-9119-725-3..." That should be enough for OTA to look it up. Ditto for any FasTrak tag scanned in Oklahoma.

If the state of California needs to send me a bill in the mail, then they need to be able to get my address somehow.

In states with pay-by-plate, this means that the toll enforcement agency has to have made arrangements with the DMV of the offender's state to look up their name and address (personal information) by license plate number.  I imagine there are similar arrangements that have to be made between toll agencies.

In your second example, remember, it isn't actually Caltrans that's going to be sending the bill, but rather OTA.  So, when OTA calls up Caltrans on the phone (ha!) and asks for the name and address associated with FasTrak number 9876543210—then what?  California just gives them the personal information of one of its citizens, for only Oklahoma's benefit?  Now, the "bill" may be electronic, and the "call" may be electronic, but the privacy issue still remains and would need to be resolved by prior legal arrangement between states.

Mentioned this a couple months ago here: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?msg=3028275

For transponder interoperability, there's zero reason why any agency would need more information other than the transponder serial number and maybe an assigned license plate (which is only used if the transponder has trouble reading and the license plate can identify an existing E-ZPass account for billing).

Example: I have I-Pass. My transponder (like all I-Pass sticker transponders) starts with 014. Those 3 numbers indicate to all E-ZPass member agencies that the tag belongs to the ISTHA. When I use out of state toll roads, ISTHA still manages my balance, they just send whatever ITRCC, OTIC, PTC, etc. invoiced. As you correctly pointed out, the only agency that directly bills the tagholder is their home agency. None of those agencies probably know anything about me other than "transponder 014 XXXXXXXXXX passed through Plaza XX at XX:XX:XX PM."

[Scott5114]

If the state of California needs to send me a bill in the mail, then they need to be able to get my address somehow.

No, they don't.

1. Caltrans sends OTA proof that they processed Pikepass transponder #0118-999-88199-9119-725-3 at the Rancho Santa Mochila toll plaza at such and such time and the amount due is $5.
2. OTA pays Caltrans $5. Caltrans no longer cares about anything that happens after this point.
3. OTA, who knows that Pikepass transponder 0118-999-88199-9119-725-3 is attached to account #8675309, deducts $5 from that account and lists a toll for Rancho Santa Mochila on its statement. Since Caltrans already has its money, because OTA paid it on its customer's behalf, they never have any need to share that customer's data with Caltrans.
4. If for some reason the customer does not pay OTA, that's between the state of Oklahoma and the customer. The state of California remains blissfully unaware of this and can focus on state of California things, like not replacing road signs and coming up with new and bizarre synonyms for "bridge". (Raise your hand if you know the difference between an "overcrossing" and a "separation"!)

As I-55 says above, this is more or less how it works within the EZPass zone, so I see no reason why it shouldn't work outside of it.

[kphoger]

If the state of California needs to send me a bill in the mail, then they need to be able to get my address somehow.

No, they don't.

1. Caltrans sends OTA proof that they processed Pikepass transponder #0118-999-88199-9119-725-3 at the Rancho Santa Mochila toll plaza at such and such time and the amount due is $5.
2. OTA pays Caltrans $5. Caltrans no longer cares about anything that happens after this point.
3. OTA, who knows that Pikepass transponder 0118-999-88199-9119-725-3 is attached to account #8675309, deducts $5 from that account and lists a toll for Rancho Santa Mochila on its statement. Since Caltrans already has its money, because OTA paid it on its customer's behalf, they never have any need to share that customer's data with Caltrans.
4. If for some reason the customer does not pay OTA, that's between the state of Oklahoma and the customer. The state of California remains blissfully unaware of this and can focus on state of California things, like not replacing road signs and coming up with new and bizarre synonyms for "bridge". (Raise your hand if you know the difference between an "overcrossing" and a "separation"!)

As I-55 says above, this is more or less how it works within the EZPass zone, so I see no reason why it shouldn't work outside of it.

Thank you very much.  I tried to understand his explanation, but I couldn't wrap my brain around it.  I understood your explanation.  (I'm a bear of very little brain.)

Also, you gave me a great chuckle at 'Rancho Santa Mochila'.  Holy Backpack Town.

[Scott5114]

Also, you gave me a great chuckle at 'Rancho Santa Mochila'.  Holy Backpack Town.

It's a name I've been using with Jake to mean "any random California city you've never once heard of but inexplicably contains 142,000 people". It turns out there are a lot of those, and most of them have Spanish names that don't make a whole lot of sense.

[Plutonic Panda]

Also, you gave me a great chuckle at 'Rancho Santa Mochila'.  Holy Backpack Town.

It's a name I've been using with Jake to mean "any random California city you've never once heard of but inexplicably contains 142,000 people". It turns out there are a lot of those, and most of them have Spanish names that don't make a whole lot of sense.

I was at a bar in Rancho Mirage one time and accidentally referred to the city as Rancho Cucamonga. You would've thought that I asked to fuck the guy's wife. He got so offended over that like it was unreal. Almost wanted to fight me because of it.

[Scott5114]

Also, you gave me a great chuckle at 'Rancho Santa Mochila'.  Holy Backpack Town.

It's a name I've been using with Jake to mean "any random California city you've never once heard of but inexplicably contains 142,000 people". It turns out there are a lot of those, and most of them have Spanish names that don't make a whole lot of sense.

I was at a bar in Rancho Mirage one time and accidentally referred to the city as Rancho Cucamonga. You would've thought that I asked to fuck the guy's wife. He got so offended over that like it was unreal. Almost wanted to fight me because of it.

"sorry man to me they're both just suburbs of Jurupa Valley"

[kphoger]

I was at a bar ... and accidentally referred to the city as Rancho Cucamonga ... He got so offended over that ... Almost wanted to fight me because of it.

Either that guy was very, very drunk—or else you've left out some parts of the story.

[The Ghostbuster]

Or Plutonic Panda just made an unintentional innocent mistake.

[kphoger]

Or Plutonic Panda just made an unintentional innocent mistake.

Oh, I'm sure that was the case.  I'm just wondering if something happened between "unintentional innocent mistake" and "almost wanted to fight".

[Plutonic Panda]

Or Plutonic Panda just made an unintentional innocent mistake.

Oh, I'm sure that was the case.  I'm just wondering if something happened between "unintentional innocent mistake" and "almost wanted to fight".

No, I mean it wasn't like he got up and was like let's squabble. He just got a little squirrelly. He might've been one of those type of people that just fucking playfully joke around I don't know. I didn't feel threatened. I was amused, but it was kind of funny.

[Great Lakes Roads]

The OTA will be awarding a project on the June 2nd commission meeting-

1. HEB-MC-65D - Full Depth Pavement Reconstruction (MP 20.24-30.49)
Duit Construction Co., Inc.
$57,221,638.69
CONST
H.E. Bailey Turnpike
ACCESS Bond Program

[Great Lakes Roads]

Another project has been added into the ACCESS Oklahoma program:
Toll Bridge – consists of a new bridge, crossing the Arkansas River in the vicinity of Bixby, Oklahoma

[CoreySamson]

That will be nice. Traffic on Memorial in Bixby is ludicrous at peak hours. I wonder how utilized the bridge will be if it is tolled. I guess that will depend on where it is located...

[Bobby5280]

1. HEB-MC-65D - Full Depth Pavement Reconstruction (MP 20.24-30.49)
Duit Construction Co., Inc.
$57,221,638.69
CONST
H.E. Bailey Turnpike
ACCESS Bond Program

This is a long overdue project. It runs South of Lawton from the I-44/OK-36 Grandfield Exit down to the I-44/OK-5 Walters Exit. The existing road is in pretty bad shape.

The OTA needs to plan on doing the same kind of pavement reconstruction job for I-44 from the Walters Exit on down to the South end of the turnpike at US-70 by Randlett. That roadway is just as crappy. What's really funny is once you get South of the US-70 exit and I-44 becomes a freeway the road quality improves dramatically. The segment of I-44 from US-70 down to the Red River had its pavement rebuilt around 10 or so years ago.

[Great Lakes Roads]

https://okcfox.com/news/local/nonprofit-pike-off-ota-sues-to-halt-east-west-connector-turnpike-over-environmental-claims

"Pike off OTA" (a non-profit organization) is filing a federal lawsuit against the OTA to stop construction on the E-W Connector, citing "environment concerns"... 

Pike Off OTA said that the OTA, USACE, FHWA, FWS, and the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation have all failed to uphold their duties to ensure the protection of Oklahoma's wildlife, waterways, natural environment, and Pike Off OTA's procedural rights.

We'll see where this lawsuit goes.

[Plutonic Panda]

I'll be very surprised if this thing gets stopped. I'm not an uncaring man. I feel bad for the people that lost their house, but I like freeways more. But it's not just the fact that I like freeways. This is a needed connection. I do think the Oklahoma Turnpike, Authority operates a little out of their bounds, but a lot of this shit could be solved if Oklahoma would just do this simple thing called planning.

We don't need to go that far to see how it's done. We have a neighbor to the south who is excellent at building these small roads in these areas you would never think would need a full-size freeway, but man they were smart to do that. Now I do think Texas is kind of losing their way on future planning.

I remember when they first announced this I talked with either the person that started the Pike Off thing or one of them. He was fairly hostile and kept mentioning me how he was a veteran and he was trained to kill people. He mentioned it to me several times like it was a vague threat.

I was younger at the time and even then I probably shouldn't have said this, but I do have a lot of guns and I told him well. I got guns too man, but I'm not trained to kill people like you are and then he kept insisting that I come shoot with them on his property. I'm not sure whether or not he had bad intentions cause the conversation was a little. I don't know if I would say hostile might be the right word at first, but in the end, we offer the buy each other beer and possibly do some target practicing and maybe even teach me to learn to hunt.

But I decided not to cause he mentioned multiple times ad verbatim " there's two things in my life. I know how to do and that's killing people and now I have to stop this tollway from being built next to Mike from taking my property." he was a veteran by the way if I didn't mention that.

So I have respect for these people I feel bad for them. One has to wonder how much time and money they're spending with attorneys trying to go through every single law they can possibly think of to try to find anything they can to delay this project.

But it is incredibly annoying. I think a lot of people on this website let alone or ordinary civilians are unaware of how massive the stack interchange I-35 is gonna be. I think when all set is done we're gonna have three of those in OKC. Fully directional. SH-74 and I-344 except that will only be partially completed for awhile with a couple movements not yet even planned. Then the massive I-44/I-40 interchange, which is gonna be completely rebuilt with all the exit/entrance movements moved to the left. That'll be pretty cool.

[kphoger]

This is a long overdue project.

Amen!  Good-bye, roller coaster?

once you get South of the US-70 exit and I-44 becomes a freeway

All of I-44 is a freeway.

[Bobby5280]

All of I-44 is a freeway.

All of I-44 is a controlled access super highway. I don't like using the term "freeway" on the segments of I-44 that have tolls.

I'll be very surprised if this thing gets stopped. I'm not an uncaring man. I feel bad for the people that lost their house, but I like freeways more. But it's not just the fact that I like freeways. This is a needed connection. I do think the Oklahoma Turnpike, Authority operates a little out of their bounds, but a lot of this shit could be solved if Oklahoma would just do this simple thing called planning.

Considering where I think the US economy could be headed (I hope I'm wrong), the property owners affected by the Toby Keith Turnpike construction should probably take the buy-outs while the getting is good.

America's housing market has been in the biggest price bubble in more than 20 years. The housing market is now trending downward in a number of regions. Despite big price cuts happening in states like Florida and Texas buyers still aren't coming back. High interest rates, cost of living price inflation, record consumer debt levels and other issues are worsening the drop-off of home buyer demand. Now property values are starting to fall. Oklahoma is somewhat stable on a state-wide basis, but valuations aren't so equal when drilling down to county or town levels. A wider economic downtown could put every part of the state into negative territory.

Let's not forget about this AI bubble. Most of the value gains in the stock market for the past few years have been fueled by AI-related construction spending. The sky high valuations are pure bullshit, based on lots of wishful, magical thinking about future earnings. It's not a good sign when OpenAI decides to delay its much-hyped IPO. There's probably shit in their books they don't want would-be retail investors to see.

Anyway, if property owners along Indian Hills Road actually succeed in blocking this turnpike from being built they might be stuck, unable to sell their properties in the future, or even borrow against equity. In a really bad downtown the equity they have could disappear via property value deflation. Some owners might even end up financially underwater -especially if they did any re-financing in the past couple or so years.

I remember when they first announced this I talked with either the person that started the Pike Off thing or one of them. He was fairly hostile and kept mentioning me how he was a veteran and he was trained to kill people. He mentioned it to me several times like it was a vague threat.

My father is a retired Marine. Some of my best, local friends are Army veterans. My niece is a Staff Sergeant in the Army. None of them walk around blabbing out their veteran status immediately to anyone they just met, much less boast how they're trained to kill people. They've all seen combat and don't talk about it, unless they're doing so with other veterans.

So that makes me suspicious of the Pike-Off guy. He might be a legit veteran. Or he might not. Plenty of guys try to pretend. They either didn't serve at all or if they did they were "in the rear with the gear" and not in a real combat role. Or they might have been booted out of the service for some reason.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Progress report on the South Extension Turnpike

Engineering design ahead of schedule; early property acquisition underway

The progress on the South Extension Turnpike project is exceeding expectations, meeting the planned timelines for design and pre-construction activities. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority is focused on progressing design plans and has already identified ways to improve the alignment in the early design stages of the future 19-mile corridor.

Collaboration and meetings with communities such as Noble, Purcell, Cleveland County, and many neighborhood associations and small groups have gone extremely well, allowing exploration of their transportation needs as part of the design within the turnpike alignment. OTA has also continued to provide regular updates to the City of Norman and the University of Oklahoma.

Engineers continue to find ways to tweak the alignment to minimize impacts to property owners and the environment while also increasing safety and meeting the community's future transportation needs at every opportunity.

"We are moving forward in the engineering design phase for the benefit of landowners. Providing certainty to property owners by communicating as early as we can is the right thing to do," said Joe Echelle, OTA executive director. "It's OTA's hope that expediting the early acquisition process lessens uncertainty and anxiety for those property owners who know they will have property purchased. OTA does not want to leave property owners in limbo for the next few years."

OTA is making initial property purchase offers where possible and is engaged in negotiations with property owners who contact OTA for early settlements or where the OTA has certainty regarding the need for the property. Right-of-way personnel began communicating in May with property owners whose land is directly impacted by the South Extension, which will ultimately connect the I-35 Southern Corridor with the future Toby Keith Expressway.

The construction completion timeline is in two phases. One segment is slated to open by 2032, and the remainder of the new route is expected to open by 2034. Engineering design plans for the turnpike corridor are expected to be at 60 percent completion by the end of this year. In early 2027, OTA plans to begin working with landowners where only partial parcels of property will be needed.

Major highway construction, especially for a new alignment, often can take an average of 10-20 years from inception to final completion. In the ACCESS program, the timeline has been streamlined to less than 10 years for all its corridors. While the visible parts of road construction occur in the final few years of the project, many other aspects of preconstruction, such as design, environmental assessments, property acquisition, and utility relocations, must be completed in the early stages for construction to begin.

Additionally, the public can expect to see more refined and detailed map information for the South Extension and the Toby Keith Expressway projects on the ACCESS Oklahoma website as engineering design plans progress past the 60 percent completion mark. OTA will continue to update the online map with additional project details as they become available.

ACCESS Oklahoma projects are progressing statewide. To date, OTA has let 21 construction projects at more than $785 million reinvestment into the state's turnpike system. OTA has purchased 101 properties and is actively negotiating on an additional 102 properties along the Toby Keith Expressway. The OTA expects to complete the initial 57 total purchases of property along the South Extension Turnpike alignment through the end of 2026. As announced in September 2025, the South Extension is expected to affect about 75 homes. As the OTA progresses through engineering design for the corridor, it will continue to optimize the design to minimize potential impacts.

[kphoger]

controlled access super highway

a.k.a. 'freeway'

I don't like using the term "freeway" on the segments of I-44 that have tolls.

What's wrong with calling it 'the tolled portion' and 'the free portion'?

[Plutonic Panda]

I thought I read on here that the term freeway just means that it's a road that is completely free flowing with no direct conflict points. I'm not sure if merging would be considered a direct conflict point or not. But it was something like that.

[Plutonic Panda]

All of I-44 is a freeway.

All of I-44 is a controlled access super highway. I don't like using the term "freeway" on the segments of I-44 that have tolls.

I'll be very surprised if this thing gets stopped. I'm not an uncaring man. I feel bad for the people that lost their house, but I like freeways more. But it's not just the fact that I like freeways. This is a needed connection. I do think the Oklahoma Turnpike, Authority operates a little out of their bounds, but a lot of this shit could be solved if Oklahoma would just do this simple thing called planning.

Considering where I think the US economy could be headed (I hope I'm wrong), the property owners affected by the Toby Keith Turnpike construction should probably take the buy-outs while the getting is good.

America's housing market has been in the biggest price bubble in more than 20 years. The housing market is now trending downward in a number of regions. Despite big price cuts happening in states like Florida and Texas buyers still aren't coming back. High interest rates, cost of living price inflation, record consumer debt levels and other issues are worsening the drop-off of home buyer demand. Now property values are starting to fall. Oklahoma is somewhat stable on a state-wide basis, but valuations aren't so equal when drilling down to county or town levels. A wider economic downtown could put every part of the state into negative territory.

Let's not forget about this AI bubble. Most of the value gains in the stock market for the past few years have been fueled by AI-related construction spending. The sky high valuations are pure bullshit, based on lots of wishful, magical thinking about future earnings. It's not a good sign when OpenAI decides to delay its much-hyped IPO. There's probably shit in their books they don't want would-be retail investors to see.

Anyway, if property owners along Indian Hills Road actually succeed in blocking this turnpike from being built they might be stuck, unable to sell their properties in the future, or even borrow against equity. In a really bad downtown the equity they have could disappear via property value deflation. Some owners might even end up financially underwater -especially if they did any re-financing in the past couple or so years.

I remember when they first announced this I talked with either the person that started the Pike Off thing or one of them. He was fairly hostile and kept mentioning me how he was a veteran and he was trained to kill people. He mentioned it to me several times like it was a vague threat.

My father is a retired Marine. Some of my best, local friends are Army veterans. My niece is a Staff Sergeant in the Army. None of them walk around blabbing out their veteran status immediately to anyone they just met, much less boast how they're trained to kill people. They've all seen combat and don't talk about it, unless they're doing so with other veterans.

So that makes me suspicious of the Pike-Off guy. He might be a legit veteran. Or he might not. Plenty of guys try to pretend. They either didn't serve at all or if they did they were "in the rear with the gear" and not in a real combat role. Or they might have been booted out of the service for some reason.

I may make a lot of people on here hate me after saying this, but selfishly I want the housing market to collapse, cause I want to buy a row home in San Francisco so bad.