Construction and Asset Plan rebalancing adjusted due to rising costs
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation released its Federal Fiscal Year 2026–2033 Eight-Year Construction Work Plan Monday, outlining more than 1,200 critically-needed highway and bridge projects across the state valued at more than $7.7 billion.
The Plan is ODOT’s roadmap for addressing safety, pavement and bridge needs across Oklahoma. Each year, the Plan is updated by ODOT’s eight field district engineers, with input from stakeholders and approval by the Oklahoma Transportation Commission.
This year’s update reflects significant changes caused by historic construction inflation. Across the country, DOTs have experienced nearly 18 years of cost inflation over just the last three years. This generational reduction in buying power has impacted the totality of the agency’s operations, forcing careful evaluation of investment strategies and updating project cost estimates to more realistic numbers. As a result, no new projects were included in the Work Plan, despite cognizance of the attention needed for many existing roads or bridges. Some projects from last year’s plan also had to move outside the eight-year window, but they remain priorities that the agency will continue to develop and bring back as funding allows.
Highlights of the 2026–2033 Plan include:
- 675 miles of rural two-lane highway improvements
- 2,810 lane-miles of pavement in fair or poor condition addressed
- 209 at-risk bridges repaired or replaced
- 12 structurally deficient bridges addressed
- 1,266 projects statewide, valued at more than $7.7 billion
“Safety is and always will be the driving force behind every project in this Plan,” said ODOT Executive Director Tim Gatz. “Oklahoma has made tremendous progress over the last 20 years in improving our bridges and highways, and we are committed to keeping that momentum. At the same time, we must be realistic – inflation has dramatically increased construction costs and our available funding simply doesn’t stretch as far as it once did. This Plan represents our best effort to balance urgent safety needs with fiscal responsibility, ensuring we continue to deliver the improvements Oklahomans expect and deserve.”
Major projects being advanced sooner through bond funding include the US-70 Roosevelt Bridge over Lake Texoma, the US-81 Chickasha Bypass and phases of I-35 widening between Oklahoma City and Texas. While bonds allow the agency to deliver these projects sooner, repaying the bonds will tighten future budgets.
“This has been an incredibly challenging year, but we’re deeply grateful to the Legislature for their continued commitment to Oklahoma’s transportation system,” continued Director Gatz.
“The one-time RETRO funding provided over the last couple of years helped protect us from some of these budget pressures and kept critical projects moving forward. However, the inflation challenges we and other DOTs across the country are facing left us with no choice but to move some projects outside of that eight-year window.”
The Eight-Year Construction Work Plan has been updated annually since 2002 and is widely regarded as a model of transparent, long-range infrastructure planning. Since its inception, ODOT has made incredible strides to improve the safety and quality of the state’s transportation system. Oklahoma’s number of structurally deficient bridges has decreased from 1,168 bridges to 35, ranking ODOT at fourth in the nation for good bridge conditions.
Also presented Monday was the Four-Year Asset Preservation Plan which includes nearly 286 projects worth roughly $509 million for preventative maintenance aimed at extending the life of the state’s highway and interstate system in Fiscal Years 2026-2029. Asset preservation projects include improving 1,882 lane miles of pavement, addressing 33 accessibility needs and rehabilitating four structurally deficient bridges and 69 bridges at risk of becoming structurally deficient.
An interactive map showing all projects on both publications can be found on the ODOT homepage at odot.org, under “Programs and Projects” then “8-Year ODOT Construction Projects.” This tool allows users to easily locate projects and related information.
The Oklahoma Transportation Commission was presented the 2026–2033 Eight-Year Construction Work Plan and the 2026–2029 Asset Preservation Plan for approval at its Oct. 6 meeting. Together, the Plans invest more than $8.2 billion in highway improvements and maintenance amid nearly two decades worth of inflationary costs over just the last three years. Both publications can be viewed on ODOT’s webpage at odot.org under the “Programs and Projects” tab.
ODOT is advancing the replacement of the US-70 Roosevelt Bridge over Lake Texoma through bond funding, moving the project forward sooner to improve safety and reliability. While bonds help accelerate major projects like this, repayment will tighten future budgets.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is advancing phases of the I-35 widening between Oklahoma City and the Texas state line through bond funding despite inflationary challenges that have impacted other projects, moving them outside of the Eight-Year planning window. With traffic already exceeding 150,000 vehicles a day and projected to double by 2045, the widening projects will expand the corridor to six lanes and improve key interchanges.