OKLAHOMA CITY - Change is coming to Oklahoma’s turnpikes.
Governor Kevin Stitt signed into low House Bill 1071, which increases speed limits along Oklahoma turnpikes from 75 to 80 miles per hour and on certain state highways from 70 to 75 miles per hour. Representative Daniel Pae (R-Lawton) and Senator John Michael Montgomery (R-Lawton) worked to together to author House Bill 1071.
“While we wanted to increase the speed limit on our turnpikes and state highways, we also worked to ensure the safety of Oklahoma drivers,” Pae said. “We will use traffic and engineering studies to take into consideration things such as traffic density and infrastructure quality to determine where we could safely increase these speed limits.”
Working closely with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol on the language of the bill, Pae gained the three agency’s support for the bill. Pae also worked with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and the Oklahoma Secretary of Transportation to include language referring to traffic studies in order to keep the state in line with federal regulations, ensuring Oklahoma can continue to receive federal highway dollars.
According to Pae, the speed limits won’t go into effect immediately; instead, they will be gradually implemented in a sensible and safe manner.
