Route 66 travelers will encounter detours this summer with reconstruction set to start on the Turner Turnpike bridge over the iconic highway in Wellston.
Work is set to start later this month on the $48 million project, which will replace a 71-year-old bridge with a new, six-lane-wide crossing. Turner Turnpike travelers, meanwhile, will be diverted to temporary ground level lanes once the current bridge is removed.
Local motorists needing to access State Highway 66 between US-177 and SH-102 will have a signed detour while those exiting I-44/Turner Turnpike will detour to US-177 to US-62 to SH-102 to SH-66.
The widening is part of the $5 billion, 15-year ACCESS Oklahoma expansion of the state’s toll road network, which includes widening of the Turner Turnpike to six lanes between Oklahoma City and Bristow.
The bridge project is expected to be completed by summer 2025 and will include Route 66 bridge medallions and other artwork planned to celebrate the highway’s 2026 centennial.
"This is an exciting day for the entire state of Oklahoma," Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell said. "We're off the most famous road in the entire world and it is such an economic driver for the state of Oklahoma. Over half of all sales tax collected in Oklahoma is off the Route 66 road.”
Oklahoma's Turner Turnpike switching to PlatePay on May 1
Turner Turnpike travelers also will see the removal of toll booths with the highway switching to PlatePay on May 1. The turnpike authority previously set PlatePay tolls for passenger vehicles traveling from Oklahoma City to Tulsa on the Turner Turnpike to go up from $5 to $8.75. With PlatePay, cameras record drivers without Pike Passes and mail billings to vehicle owners.
PlatePay is being introduced to toll roads statewide as the turnpike authority prepares to add more access points.
"Part of cashless tolling has been a door opener for us to be able to put interchanges where they best facilitate the communities that we serve here in the state like Wellston, Davenport, Depew, Chandler, Stroud and I can go on," said Joe Echelle, director of the turnpike authority. "We're adding dozens of interchanges across the state as part of ACCESS Oklahoma."
The Turner Turnpike through Wellston draws average daily traffic of more than 31,000 vehicles, a figure transportation officials predict will hit more than 55,000 by 2053.
Tim Gatz, director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said the bridge work coincides with his agency spending more than $100 million improving Route 66 between Edmond and Wellston. The agency is contributing $7.5 million toward the $48 million bridge project.
"The one thing I can ensure you of that at this handshake location between the tax-supported state highway location and the turnpike network, on this particular location on Route 66 we will make you proud of what it becomes," Gatz said. "We're going to do that for the community and we're committed with a quality group of individuals and companies who are going to bring this to fruition."
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