$275M in bonds to finance highway projects, including start of US-81 bypass in Chickasha – Southwest Ledger

May 13, 2025
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OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority (OCIA) took official action recently with financing a $275 million infrastructure package, in partnership with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT), that includes a long-awaited Chickasha project.
Approved earlier this year by the OCIA Board as authorized by the Legislature, the bond financing will fund major transportation improvements across the state, such as upgrades to the Roosevelt Bridge over Lake Texoma, widening Interstate 35 from south of Purcell to Ardmore, and a truck bypass on US-81 in Chickasha.
“This is a strong example of careful and responsible financial management,” said State Treasurer Todd Russ. “Upgrades and maintenance can be painful but they are extremely vital. By acting at the right time in the bond market, we are securing the best possible rates to finance important transportation upgrades that will benefit Oklahoma families and businesses for years to come.”
The OCIA Board authorized issuance of the “Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority State Highways Capital Improvement Revenue Bonds, Series 2025A,” in an amount not to exceed $275 million. The funds will be used for construction, maintenance, and improvements to state highway and bridge infrastructure. As an element in the state’s goal of improving its highways and bridges, “This funding is crucial to continuing the positive momentum created over the last 10 years,” Russ said.
“The pricing was competitive with strong investor demand, which, in conjunction with the tax-exempt status of the bonds, allowed for tightening of spreads and a lower cost of capital on the financing – further evidence of the state’s strong credit standing and market timing,” he said.
Less than two months ago S&P Global Ratings assigned an AA rating to OCIA’s $257 million bond issue for the Transportation Department.
The bond proceeds will be delivered promptly to the department to begin the authorized projects, the Treasurer said.
ODOT is preparing for a major project to realign US-81 on the west side of Chickasha, to improve safety and relieve traffic congestion downtown.
“Both phases of the Chickasha bypass that are on [ODOT’s] September letting are going to be financed with bond funds,” agency spokesperson Kalie Eldridge told Southwest Ledger.
“The only other funding source is $2.5 million in Congressionally Directed Spending funds,” she said. “The current estimate of the projects is $104,380,070, so about $102 million of the bond funds are going to these phases. If it comes in under the estimate, then it’ll be less bond funding; if it comes in over, it’ll be more.”
The bond proceeds will not pay for the entire project, Eldridge acknowledged. “We have another $181 million programmed toward construction of other phases, and $80 million is what we have planned to get it completed as a two-lane.”
The realignment will feature construction of eight miles of a full access-controlled highway from just north of the SH-19 junction to north of the US-62 junction on the west side of town, Mills Leslie with ODOT’s Strategic Communications Division told the Ledger in February 2024.
The multiple projects will take more than three years to complete. The City of Chickasha has already moved its water and sewer lines that were buried in what will be the new route, City Manager Jim Crosby confirmed.
Eventually the US-81 bypass project will include construction of four traffic lanes, six new interchanges and multiple bridges, at a “rough” estimated cost of $250 million to $300 million, Leslie said. Initially a two-lane highway will be constructed, “then hopefully we’ll add two more lanes later, depending on funding availability.”
Construction of the first two lanes will take approximately 900 days – two and a half years – to complete, records indicate. The next phase will consist of bridges constructed at the county and city street level, Leslie said.
The impact to traffic should be minimal, “as all of this will be constructed to the west of town,” she said.
Major safety and congestion- relief benefits of the realignment “will include moving freight traffic, including heavy commercial truck and oilfield traffic, out of downtown Chickasha – specifically Choctaw Avenue (US62) and Fourth Street (US-81) – onto the new alignment,” Leslie said.
The OCIA Board – chaired by Gov. Kevin Stitt, with Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell as vice chair, and Treasurer Russ serving as Secretary – approved the transportation projects in February 2025.
Other board members are ODOT Executive Director Tim Gatz, Tourism Department Director Sterling Zearley, former Tax Commission Chairman Charles Prater, Department of Human Services Executive Director Jeffrey Cartmell, and Rick Rose, director of the state Office of Management and Enterprise Services.
The Treasurer’s Office, on behalf of OCIA, executes the bond financing to generate project funds.
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