ROADS Fund The Chamber supports raising the cap on the Rebuilding Oklahoma Access and Driver Safety (ROADS) Fund, the key funding mechanism for ODOT’s Eight-Year Plan, to combat ongoing inflation and reduced purchasing power for materials, manpower and maintenance.
As part of this long-range plan, the Chamber specifically supports improvements to the following existing high-speed facilities: • Widening the Turner Turnpike, as an innovation corridor, to six lanes connecting Oklahoma City to Tulsa, the state’s two largest population centers. • John Kilpatrick Turnpike widening from I-40 to I-35, including turnpike improvements at County Line Road to improve access and generate economic development. Further consideration should be given to improvements in the vicinity of Council Road and Rockwell to assist with increased traffic flow generated by ongoing corporate expansion. As well as construction of the following new alignment high-speed expressway facilities in the Oklahoma City region and associated improvements: • Outer Loop: East West Connector, expanding mobility of south Oklahoma City, including accelerating connection from I-44 to I-35. • Outer Loop: Tri-City Connector, to increase access and offer alternative routes from I-40 to I-44 and, ultimately, I-35. • South Extension: End connector south to I-35 south of Norman. The Chamber supports the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s efforts to enhance safety, increase travel time reliability, allow passage of high/wide loads and create additional interchanges such as I-44/Wellston, Oklahoma, and I-44/Amber, Oklahoma.
Heartland Flyer The Chamber supports protecting and expanding passenger rail service as an important transportation option for both rural and urban Oklahomans. The Chamber will work with the Oklahoma congressional delegation, the Oklahoma state Legislature, ODOT, Amtrak, the City of Oklahoma City, Class 1 Railroads and the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments to oppose efforts to reduce or eliminate state or federal funding received by Oklahoma to operate the Heartland Flyer Amtrak service to Fort Worth, Texas. Moreover, the Chamber supports ongoing efforts by ODOT to negotiate with the State of Texas and Amtrak to ensure Amtrak can be maintained as the passenger rail carrier. The Chamber is taking active steps with our partners to pursue the objective of extending the Heartland Flyer Amtrak service to Newton, Kansas, which would connect Oklahoma City to Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago and other locations on the national Amtrak system. Furthermore, the Chamber supports the designation of the entire Heartland Flyer line (Fort Worth – Oklahoma City – Newton – National Network) as a national Amtrak route within the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Rail Administration’s specific “Corridor Identification Program.” This designation would serve to assist with the multi-million dollar federal/state burden/cost-sharing and would strategically address a significant gap in the national Amtrak system.
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