Quote Originally Posted by Jeremy Martin View Post
Without cross pledging the OTA would collapse. The Kilpatrick, Creek and Turner are the only turnpike roads that pay for themselves. Every other toll road in OK is heavily in the red.
For the OTA to survive it has to get new bonds issued to help cover the old debt. It amazes me that our legislature has allowed them to run uncontrolled for 70 years. And now they are asking for 8-10 BILLION more dollars to build more roads that history has shown won't pay for themselves. We will continue to have rate hikes to support this Ponzi scheme until the state legislature has the balls to get them under control. No other state entity could spend 8 BILLION dollars without legislative approval.
So the turnpikes that pay for themselves are basically the major turnpikes in the OKC and Tulsa metros? Good thing that the significant majority of the new turnpike cost looks to be spend on new highways in those same two metros, I don't think it's safe to assume that those new turnpikes are going to be as much of a money black hole as the rest of the system.