Tom Warne Report, 21 September 2012
A new study shows that the Gilcrease Expressway in northern Tulsa, Oklahoma is not feasible as a stand-alone toll road because of low traffic numbers. Tulsa’s Mayor Dewey Bartlett is continuing to seek funding from the city’s allocation of $158 million from the countywide Vision2 quality-of-life sales tax package that will go before voters on the Nov. 6 ballot. The $748.8 million Vision2 proposal is an extension of 0.6 percent Vision 2025 sales tax from 2017 through 2029.
The Gilcrease Expressway is one of 18 projects Tulsa’s City Council is looking at to include on a final list for Vision2 funding. The expressway has been in planning for 50 years, and currently has 12.2 miles completed, with 6.7 miles left to go through the north and west sections of the city. The extension is projected to cost $230 million to $320 million, depending on the timing.
According to Paul Zachary, city Engineering Services Department director, finishing the highway loop around Tulsa by completing the only way to get the most out of the $126 million local, federal and state investment that has already been made.
The OTA study, completed earlier this year, was to look at the feasibility of making some or all of the unfinished sections of the Gilcrease Expressway toll roads and scenarios such as completing the project or parts f it with two or four lanes.
The turnpike authority said all of the various scenarios showed a toll road would not be self-supporting because they would not have enough traffic to generate the net revenue required to pay off the debt. The cost of completing Gilcrease as a four-lane turnpike is about $857 million in 2010, the authority reported, while a two-lane turnpike version would be an estimated $280 million.
This is an example of why our nation needs a revenue stream independent of that which can be garnered through PPPs to fund critical transportation projects. The fact is—some projects just aren’t candidates for the PPP option. That’s reality. The answers lie in a menu of funding alternatives. TW