Oklahoma Turnpike OKs $1 billion of bonds for expansion project
3 min readThe Oklahoma Turnpike Authority authorized on Thursday the issuance of $1 billion of revenue bonds to continue financing the controversial ACCESS Oklahoma expansion program with a projected price tag that has risen to $8.2 billion.
Turnpike Executive Director Joe Echelle told the board that inflation boosted the cost of every line item in the 15-year Advancing and Connecting Communities and Economies Safely Statewide program since it was announced in February 2022 at an estimated cost of $5 billion.
“The bond program and these new numbers include all of the engineering design, the property acquisition for necessary right of way, our utility relocation work, and then all of the construction projects that will come — everything that we have in this program is more expensive,” he said, noting that three projects were also added to the program.
The second senior revenue bonds will be sold in 2025’s first quarter along with a potential refunding of Series 2017A bonds, according to turnpike officials. The deal follows an initial
Jordan Perdue, OTA’s senior financial analyst and legislative liaison, said approval for the 2025 bonds will be sought late this year or early next year from Oklahoma’s Council of Bond Oversight and that court validation,
OTA ultimately emerged the winner in litigation brought by property owners in the path of the expansion, who challenged the turnpike’s ability to build and finance ACCESS projects and alleged Open Meeting Act violations on the authority’s part when the program was unveiled. After the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled
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“Under these conditions we believe it is utterly reckless and irresponsible for the OTA board to rubber stamp a massive billion dollar bond offering with no due diligence and no regard for the feasibility, desirability, or financial integrity of the proposed projects,” Tassie Hirschfeld, a member of Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, said in a statement.
The 2023 bonds were rated
Goldman Sachs was tapped to head up the underwriting team for the upcoming bond sale, which consists of Morgan Stanley, Jefferies, Stifel, Raymond James, BOK Financial, and PNC Capital Markets, according to Perdue.
He said OTA refreshed its underwriter pool this summer. Oklahoma’s 2022 Energy Discrimination Elimination Act led to the banning of Barclays, Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo from underwriting municipal bonds in the state.
Last month, Drummond said