Divided court allows turnpike authority to proceed with bond sales for ACCESS Oklahoma

A majority of Oklahoma's Supreme Court rejected a request Monday to reconsider authorizing the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority to sell a half-billion dollars in bonds backing its ACCESS Oklahoma plans.

The decision to deny the rehearing request was supported by Justices James Winchester, Noma Gurich, Yvonne Kauger, James Edmondson, Richard Darby and Special Judge John Reif.

Justices Dustin Rowe, Dana Kuehn and Special Judge Stacie Hixon dissented.

Oklahoma City attorney Robert E. Norman filed the request Aug. 21, asking the court to reconsider its split decision issued Aug. 1 to allow the authority to proceed with its plan to sell bonds for the $5 billion plan.

With the court's rejection of Norman's rehearing request in hand, the authority stated Monday it will begin widening Interstate 44 (the Turner Turnpike) between Oklahoma City and Tulsa and move forward on other long-range ACCESS Oklahoma plans to add interchanges along existing turnpike routes.

"No engineering design work will resume on the program until after the sale of revenue bonds," authority officials said.

Opponents pledge continued fight against ACCESS Oklahoma

Norman, the attorney who sought the rehearing, said Tuesday "we will continue our opposition to the new turnpikes in ACCESS Oklahoma on many available fronts."

While Amy Cerato, a member of Oklahomans for Responsible Transportation, wasn't surprised by the court's decision, she described it as "a sad day for a representative democracy and the state of Oklahoma."

"They got it incorrect the first time — the law is on our side," said Cerato, adding that she finds it incomprehensible investors would be interested in purchasing bonds from an entity that has yet to establish a certain route for a new turnpike and has no revenue estimations in hand for how much it would be used.

"The Supreme Court gave the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority carte blanche to build wherever it wants, whenever it wants and however it wants, and that was not the intent of the turnpike enabling act when it was written," she said. "They are holding every single person anywhere near their project in Cleveland , McClain and Oklahoma counties with a gun over our heads.

"We can't do anything with our properties because no one knows where the turnpike routes will be," she said.

"We have plenty more irons in the fire, and that includes legislative reform and state and federal legal actions that we are willing to take, if and when the OTA actually decides when and where it will build the route," Cerato said.

Unsettled OTA issues remain despite court's ruling

All work on ACCESS Oklahoma was frozen earlier this year amidst an array of lawsuits filed against the turnpike authority alleging proposed new Norman-area toll roads did not comply with 1987 legislative authorization.

The turnpike authority is still being audited at the request of Attorney General Gentner Drummond.

The turnpike authority also has not resolved the Bureau of Land Reclamation's rejected plans to build one of the new toll roads through the outskirts of Lake Thunderbird. That alone leaves the turnpike authority unable to fully project construction costs and how many residents might be displaced by a changed route.

More: Oklahoma Turnpike Authority losing millions in conversion from toll booths to PlatePay

Over the past two years, The Oklahoman reported how the agency used questionable population and traffic growth forecasts to justify building new toll roads and lost revenues due to conversion to cashless tolling.

Implementation of ACCESS Oklahoma has been delayed by about a year to this point. Transportation Department Executive Director Tim Gatz first announced the $5 billion, 15-year bond issue to expand and improve the toll road network at the turnpike authority's December 2021 meeting, followed by board approval in February 2022.

Supreme Court rulings have backed OTA, so far

Turnpike officials said Monday's ruling was the third favoring the turnpike authority since it announced its ACCESS Oklahoma plan in February.

Last week, Cleveland County Judge Timothy Olsen complied with an order issued by Oklahoma's Supreme Court in May that overturned his December ruling the authority had violated Oklahoma's Open Meetings Act as it unveiled its ACCESS Oklahoma plan.

In August, the Supreme Court declined a request seeking to require Winchester to recuse himself from authority matters.

The court initially authorized the turnpike authority to sell the bonds for ACCESS Oklahoma on Aug. 1, a decision supported by the same justices who backed Monday's ruling.

Getting past those challenges were key, the authority said.

"Clearing all remaining legal issues was one of the Council of Bond Oversight’s conditions when it heard the authority’s application Sept. 11 to issue the $500 million in bonds for the program," its statement read.

Bond sales for ACCESS Oklahoma work could occur as soon as late October, with the authority recently obtaining "stable" outlooks from three independent bond agencies, the statement said.

The ratings "reflect OTA’s strong financial position/fiscal controls, sound management practices, high quality pavement/bridge conditions, and financial metrics along with a stable traffic profile with low toll rates," it said. "OTA continues to meet and exceed financial expectations while maintaining a safe and effective network of toll roads that connect seamlessly with the state highway system."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Turnpike Authority can sell project bonds, court says