New turnpike will greatly benefit Tulsa game day travelers

TULSA (KTUL) - Plans for a new turnpike in northeast Oklahoma County will greatly reduce travel time for Tulsans heading to Norman during football season, said Jack Damrill, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority.
 

The final route for the turnpike will be unveiled at a public community meeting next week in Harrah.

The turnpike has no official name yet, but is most often called the Eastern Oklahoma County Turnpike.

The $300 million, 21-mile loop will link Interstates 40 and 44 in eastern Oklahoma County, providing an alternative route to Tulsa that will ease congestion on busy Interstate 35.
 

This will allow many drivers traveling south along I-35 to bypass a huge chunk of congested areas in Oklahoma City. For example, Sooners fans traveling from Tulsa to Norman could have drive times cut by half an hour to "hours," according to Damrill.
 

Damrill describes I-35 during peak travel times as "basically a parking lot," and that the new turnpike would drastically reduce the more than 100,000 cars along that stretch of road on a typical day.

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