Executive Director Tim Gatz revisited the recent Attorney General’s opinion barring one person from holding multiple offices. Acting immediately, Gatz stepped down as Secretary of Transportation and Executive Director of the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority. He was reappointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt as Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, which is pending Senate confirmation. The opinion was a result of a request from Sen. Mary Boren.
“I want to assure the commission that the agency and operations were at no time at risk, and we are looking forward to moving ahead and continuing the good progress of the Department of Transportation,” Gatz said.
Commissioners awarded a nearly $2 million project to install additional traffic cameras at six locations in Tulsa and five locations in Oklahoma City later this year. These will be added to the more than 500 cameras already connected to the OKtraffic.org website and Drive Oklahoma mobile app, which is free to the public. These cameras are for monitoring traffic conditions, not surveillance and are not recorded.
The commission also voted to approve an $8 million resurfacing project for nearly 7 miles of US-69 between Checotah and Eufaula. This project should begin mid-summer and take about four months.
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Also approved were two projects in Lawton. The first project is a partnership with City of Lawton to reconstruct Gore Boulevard between Southwest 82nd Street and Southwest 67th Street, which includes $13 million for bike lanes, sidewalks, drainage, and traffic signal installation. Construction is anticipated to begin early this summer. The other project is a $3.5 million safety improvement on US-62/Rogers Lane from Northwest 82nd Street, east six miles. The project will limit turns across several lanes of traffic, replace guardrail, and upgrade the traffic signal. Construction is anticipated to begin early fall.
Commissioners voted to award 22 contracts totaling $108 million to improve highways, roads, and bridges statewide.
