The Oklahoma Department of Transportation says inflation is continuing to affect its long-term construction goals, pushing back major projects across Green Country.
During a meeting of the Indian Nations Council of Governments on Tuesday, ODOT District 8 Engineer Trapper Parks outlined the agency’s eight-year construction work plan covering fiscal years 2026 through 2033.
The plan approved by a state commission guides which highway and bridge projects are prioritized across northeastern Oklahoma.
Parks said inflation has significantly impacted the timing and budgets of many of those projects.
“So over the past four years, we’ve seen the equivalent of 18 years’ worth of inflation,” Parks said.
According to Parks, 106 of the 141 planned projects in northeastern Oklahoma have been thwarted due to rising construction costs.
He said as inflation begins to level off, ODOT will finally be able to adjust estimates and plan more accurately.
“For so long we were chasing that inflationary curve that our estimates were too low,” Parks said. “When we would actually get to the time to build the project, we were having to expend more than what we had planned. We’re starting to catch up with that, and knowing better what those numbers are going to look like will help us plan for the future.”
Despite the financial challenges, several major Tulsa County projects remain in ODOT’s upcoming eight-year plan. Those include:
· US-169 from I-44 to 51st Street — pavement rehabilitation
· US-75 at South 81st Street — bridge and roadway improvements
· US-75 from State Highway 20 to the Washington County line — pavement rehabilitation
· I-44 and US-75 (Work Package #4) — interchange improvements
· State Highway 51 west of State Highway 97 — pavement rehabilitation
· US-64 from Bixby to the Wagoner County line — grade, drain, bridge and surface work
· State Highway 20 from US-75 to State Highway 11 — grade, drain, bridge and surface
· US-75 at 106th Street North — interchange
· US-169 at 96th Street North — bridge and approaches
· State Highway 11 from Yale Avenue to I-244 — pavement rehabilitation
Projects that have been moved beyond the current eight-year plan due to fiscal constraints include: US-169 at 106th Street North, US-169 from Memorial to the Creek Turnpike, US-75 from I-244 to the Tulsa city limits, and interchange improvements at US-169 and the Broken Arrow Expressway.
Parks said ODOT will continue working to balance inflation pressures with the need to maintain and expand the state’s highway network. “As far as controlling that cost,” he said. “it’s out of our hands.”
