Well, this doesn't help the cause of V2 - study says turnpike to finish Gilcrease Expressway not feasible.
Study calls Gilcrease Expressway as a toll road unfeasible
Construction work continues on the latest leg of the Gilcrease Expressway west of the Tisdale Expressway, south of 36th Street North in Tulsa. MICHAEL WYKE / Tulsa World
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By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer & BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau
Published: 9/18/2012 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 9/18/2012 7:28 AM
A study shows completing the Gilcrease Expressway as a stand-alone toll road would not be feasible due to low traffic, but that hasn't dissuaded Tulsa's mayor from seeking Vision2 tax dollars for the project.
"The goals of a turnpike are going to be different than the goals of regular highway infrastructure," Mayoral Chief of Staff Jarred Brejcha said in response to the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority report.
A turnpike is an investment that must be recouped through vehicle tolls, Brejcha said
But the city is looking at a variety of broad issues, from economic development to traffic flow to public safety, in wanting to see the project completed, he said.
Mayor Dewey Bartlett has recommended the City Council consider putting $10 million of Tulsa's potential $158 million in Vision2 quality-of-life funding toward the expressway extension.
The countywide Vision2 package will be on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The Legislature in 2010 authorized the turnpike authority to study the feasibility of making some or all of the unfinished portions of the Gilcrease Expressway into a toll road.
The OTA study, which cost about $1 million and was completed earlier this year, looked at a nearly 12-mile stretch from the L.L. Tisdale Expressway to Interstate 44 near 49th West Avenue.
The study also considered various scenarios, such as completing the project or portions with four or two lanes.
All of the scenarios showed a toll road would not be self-supporting, said turnpike authority Deputy Director Tim Stewart. They would not have enough traffic to generate the net revenue needed to retire the debt.
Council Chairman G.T. Bynum said the findings of the study highlight the concerns he's had all along.
"Federal money has trickled in slowly, but no one else has been willing to commit real resources to get this done," he said.
"Why is that? Why is the Oklahoma Department of Transportation not willing to do it? Why is the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority not willing to do it? What does that say about the viability of the project?"
Bynum and Councilor Blake Ewing also have expressed concerns about the extension leading to urban sprawl. Other councilors have said the project should not be a priority with limited resources.
Councilors beginning Wednesday will hammer out the city's list of Vision2 projects, which they will vote on in the form of a resolution the following week.
The Gilcrease Expressway extension has been on the Tulsa Metro Chamber's regional One Voice legislative agenda for the past several years.
"Having a completed loop around our city would create a more efficient traffic flow, allow us to continue to grow and increase our development opportunities," said Chris Benge, the chamber's senior vice president of government affairs.
Millions of dollars have been spent acquiring rights-of-way and building the highway one portion at a time, he said.
"But ODOT has had a long-standing position of not adding new state-designated highways," Benge said, "so what that has done is limit our resources."
The mayor hopes to convince the council that allocating $10 million toward the extension would be an investment in the future, Brejcha said.
Bartlett, who is in Japan on a business-recruitment trip, is particularly interested in seeing the money put toward a bridge over the Arkansas River that the extension would need.
Still, that's a small fraction of the project's total cost.
Completing the Gilcrease as a four-lane turnpike is an estimated $857 million in 2010 dollars, Stewart said.
A scaled-down version as a two-lane turnpike is $280 million, he said.
A third alternative was a two-lane road from West 21st Street, heading north across the Arkansas River and U.S. 412 ending just north of West Edison Street, according to the study. The cost was $144 million, according to the study.
A fourth alternative was a two-lane road along the same route as the third alternative, but with a simplified interchange on U.S. 412. The cost was $110 million, the study indicated.
Stewart said the figures only include construction and could increase as time passes.
The project always has been one, Brejcha said, that will need multiple funding sources, which is why the Mayor's Office is talking to area municipalities, tribes and other entities to be partners.
The project's feasibility was studied as if it would be a stand-alone turnpike - not sharing in other turnpike revenues.
The OTA cross-pledges its toll revenue so high traffic turnpikes help support toll roads with fewer vehicles. The tolls are used to retire debt used to build and expand the turnpikes, patrol the roadways and perform maintenance.
Just because the OTA's study indicates the Gilcrease Expressway extension would have low traffic as a toll road, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be well traveled as a free highway, Benge pointed out.
"The traffic count would be lower because you would be charging people," he said. "And as a stand-alone project, it would require a much higher toll."
Read more from this Tulsa World article at
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20120918_16_A1_Astudy907963
