Driving on Okmulgee County highways should be smoother by 2033, according to plans by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to resurface several miles of U.S. highways within the county.

ODOT expects to spend almost $43 million on county highways from fiscal year 2026 through fiscal year 2033, according to updates announced recently in ODOT’s Eight-Year Construction Work Plan (CWP).

Six resurfacing or rehabilitation projects within the county are planned, along with construction of two bridges, which is a modest number compared to the 1,266 statewide projects during the eight-year period valued at more than $7.7 billion.

“Oklahoma’s highways and bridges are the backbone of our economy and daily life,” ODOT Executive Director Tim J. Gatz said as his agency unveiled its long-term plans. “They get people to work, goods to market and connect our communities across the state and beyond. Keeping this system strong takes careful planning and consistent investment.”

Each year, ODOT updates its Eight-Year Construction Work Plan. The statewide CWP is built by ODOT’s district engineers in a data driven approach that includes input from a wide variety of stakeholders and approval from the Transportation Commission. Of course, financial resources determine what projects are undertaken, as well as the timing of those projects.

“Oklahoma’s highway system needs always outpace our resources, and the work plan reflects the tough choices we make to balance priorities with available funding,” Gatz said.

Since 2020, the biggest change is cost. Across the country, departments of transportation have experienced nearly 18 years of cost inflation over just the past three years, Gatz said. “This generational reduction in buying power has impacted the totality of our operations, forcing us to carefully evaluate our investment strategies and update our project estimates to more realistic numbers. As a result, we were unable to include any new projects in the work plan, despite knowing that many existing roads or bridges desperately need attention. Some projects from last year’s plan had to move outside the eightyear window, but they remain priorities that we’ll continue to develop and bring back as funding allows.”

ODOT is accelerating a few major projects, including the Roosevelt Bridge, the Chickasha Bypass and I-35 widening through bond funding. This approach allows the agency to deliver them sooner, though repaying the bonds will tighten future budgets.

Roosevelt Bridge on U.S. 70 in Bryan and Marshall Counties, is set to receive significant upgrades through federal and Oklahoma state funding to ensure it remains a safe and reliable crossing over Lake Texoma.

The $250 million Chickasha Bypass will create a new two-lane, controlled-access realignment thoroughfare to create better traffic flow for vehicles that currently use the congested U.S. 81 alignment to pass through downtown Chickasha in Grady County.

The I-35 widening project is an ambitious campaign for the state’s second busiest traffic corridor – and, along with I-40, among the most dangerous highways in Oklahoma – stretching from Kansas to Texas.

“It’s important to note that no new one-time funds were appropriated by the legislature to ODOT this year, and the one-time RETRO funding boost we received in previous years will be fully used in the early part of this work plan. That is why a meaningful policy conversation about sustained, reliable and increasing funding is critical for ODOT to keep from falling further behind,” Gatz said.

“Despite these challenges, our priorities remain clear – keep travelers safe, manage bridges, improve pavement conditions and modernize rural two-lane highways. This plan is a realistic roadmap that balances urgent needs with available resources, while keeping the future in focus.”

ODOT’s statewide Eight-Year Construction Work Plan involves 1,266 projects valued at more than $7.7 billion.

“Safety is and always will be the driving force behind every project in this plan,” Gatz says. “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.”

— Okmulgee County’s CWP

ODOT’s eight-year plan lists the following projects for $42.8 million: FY2026

• $2.175 million resurfacing of U.S. 75 from Wallace Street in Okmulgee 3.65 miles north past Negro Creek

• $1.577 million resurfacing of U.S. 62 from SH 52 in Mounds east 5.6 miles to Eram FY2028

• $13 million for grading, draining and surfacing U.S. 75 (Wood Drive) from U.S. 62 in Okmulgee north 1 mile to Sixth Street, and includes replacement of a bridge (built in 1954) over the BNSF Railway • $5.5 million pavement rehabilitation of U.S. 75 southbound lanes from Tulsa County line to SH 16 FY2031

• $1.5 million for a preliminary engineering project on U.S. 266 from Oak Street in Dewar for 1.3 miles FY2032

• $5.58 million for construction of U.S. 75 bridge over Okmulgee Creek, replacing a bridge built in 1956

• $7.5 million for grading, draining and surfacing U.S. 75A (Broadway) in Beggs from Frisco Road 1.25 miles south to SH 16 and east to Cherokee Trail FY2033

• $6 million pavement rehabilitation of U.S. 75 from SH 16 south 5.5 miles past Preston to Smith Road – An interactive map showing all projects 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.