By Ben Morgan and FOX23.com News Staff
The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority Board awarded a $97 million contact for the East-West Connector Canadian River Bridge, which will be the longest bridge in the state at over 1.25 miles.
OTA said the bridge is one of the first projects of ACCESS Oklahoma’s East-West Connector corridor and will carry traffic over the Canadian River floodplain.
The project will include two parallel bridges, one eastbound and one westbound, built to cross over the Canadian River and creating a direct route between Newcastle, Tuttle and Blanchard to the west and Moore, Norman and Oklahoma City to the east.
OTA said the project also includes the bridges over Penn Avenue.
The agreement with contractors includes incentives to encourage timely and accurate completion of work. Contractors on this project may earn $10,000 per day, for up to 90 days, to potentially move up the timeline.
There is an additional incentive of $20,000 per day, for up to 60 days, for early completion of the westbound lanes.
OTA said the bridge will help connect I-44 to I-35, helping travel time reliability and reducing travel distance between I-44 and SH-37 in Newcastle to downtown Norman from 60 miles to 12 miles.
Beginning at I-44, the bridge will cross over the Canadian river between Portland Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue.
OTA said the project was designed to minimize impacts to the Canadian River, protecting water quality and threatened species. Bridge piers will be built outside of the river channel and crews will monitor construction closely to ensure the contractor complies with environmental safeguards.
Construction is expected to being in early 2026 with the portion between I-44 and I-35, including the Canadian River Bridge, expected to open in late 2027.
The bridge is designed to accommodate 38,000 vehicles daily.
Initial traffic will require drivers to use the westbound lanes to travel both east and west during construction of the eastbound lanes.
OTA said this work will take place at the same time of two other East-West Connector projects. The new interchange with I-44 will be built in three phases, starting later in 2026, and dual mainline bridge will be built over the combined 10 Mile Flats and Boggy Creek floodplain, beginning in spring 2026.
