Oklahoma Transportation Commissioners will get an update Monday on the status of continued federal funding for Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer that runs from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth.
ODOT Executive Director Tim Gatz will provide the update when the Commission holds its monthly meeting at 11 a.m. May 5 in the R.A.Ward Transportation Building, 200 N.E. 21 in Oklahoma City.
Because of the Trump administration’s DOGE efforts to cut federal spending, some Amtrak spending has been questioned. The operation of the Heartland Flyer could fall into the programs under serious consideration.
Commissioners will also welcome a newly appointed District 3 Commissoner Lisa Billy.
Billy is a former State Representative and has been a Chickasaw Nation tribal councillor since 2016. She served in the state House from 2004 to 2016 and was also appointed by President Trump to the board of trustees of the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation in 2017.
Billy previously was the Oklahoma Secretary of Native American Affairs and Oklahoma Native AmericanAffairs Liaison in 2019 in the Stitt administration.
Commissioners will also be asked to vote whether to award several contracts, among them a project to add shoulders to and replace a bridge on US-59 near Sallisaw in Sequoyah County and an interchange reconstruction project on the SH-7 Duncan Bypass at Elk Ave. in Stephens County.
The full agenda packet may be viewed here.