Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation Gary Ridley says if the legislature approves a bill approved in Senate committee to remove nearly $60 million from the State’s road and bridge fund, it will devastate the Department’s 8-year road improvement plan.
It’s what he said Thursday in an interview on Radio KOKC and “Mitchell in the Morning.”
The Senate approved Sen. Ervin Yen’s bill and sent it to the full Senate for a vote. It would take $59.7 million from the road and bridge fund in an effort to target the $1.3 billion budget hole.
Yen says it would still leave $471 million for the 8-year improvement plan. But Ridley said if it becomes law, ODOT would have to purge its 8-year program and take out nearly $900 million.
“It’s a chess game when you’re looking at the program. Any small action you take you have to multiply by 8,” said Ridley.
He said the program has made huge improvements in the safety of deficient bridges around the State. Around the turn of the century, Oklahoma had nearly 12,000 deficient bridges and the number has been cut to about 340.
He said the governor has set an aggressive program in play to reduce it even further.
“We’re on path to do that, but if you change our funding mechanism then all bets are off whether we’re going to do that or not,” Ridley said in the interview.
Listen to part of the interview by Scott Mitchell.