Road work CNHI File Photo
Oklahoma received $100 million in highway grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation after an effort spearheaded by Rep. Tom Cole and Sen. Jim Inhofe proved successful.
The money will support two projects that directly benefit Oklahomaâs Fourth Congressional District, which Cole represents.
The first grant of $50 million is going toward the I-40 Douglas Interchange project.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, this project will widen 6.3 miles of I-40 and reconstruct the I-40 and Douglas Boulevard Interchange. The project also improves the access to Tinker Air Force Base and a more reliable commuter and freight route within the Oklahoma City metro.
The huge influx of federal money that came into Oklahoma last year amid the coronavirus pandemic was spent quickly on public health, small business grants and other needs, but a
Whitney Bryen / Oklahoma Watch
The huge influx of federal money that came into Oklahoma last year amid the coronavirus pandemic was spent quickly on public health, small business grants and other needs, but a large chunk of it was spent on state agency wishlists and technology upgrades that were only tangentially connected to the pandemic.
That’s among the conclusions of a draft report by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency released Wednesday. The report also criticized the way many projects were approved, saying Gov. Kevin Stitt’s CARES FORWARD team “deployed a highly subjective process for approving funding.”
“While LOFT does not presume to judge the merits of individual projects, the lack of explanation around decision-making does raise questions as to how projects were or were not deemed essential to Oklahoma’s recovery,” the report said.
The huge influx of federal money that came into Oklahoma last year amid the coronavirus pandemic was spent quickly on public health, small business grants and