Skip to main content

Oklahoma turnpikes go cashless

OTA says there were 500 crashes at toll booths from 2015-21
By Adam Hill November 26, 2024 Read time: 2 mins
OTA says PikePass is the most cost-effective way to travel Oklahoma turnpikes (© Trong Nguyen | Dreamstime.com)

Tolling is now cashless on all 12 Oklahoma turnpikes - a conversion process which cost nearly $60 million over the last seven years.

Users will now pay via PikePass and PlatePay.

The last one to switch to open road tolling was the I-44/Will Rogers Turnpike corridor between Tulsa and the Missouri state line.

It means that motorists can travel through cash lanes and pay them later online instead, with signage in place alerting drivers to keep moving.

Demolition of the toll booths and toll plaza areas is expected to begin after Thanksgiving, and this will lead to some lane closures, says Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA).

Safety was a factor in the move to all-electronic tolling: OTA says there were more than 500 crashes at tolling booths in the six years up to 2021.

PlatePay cameras photograph a vehicle’s licence plate, enabling the authority to send the vehicle’s registered owner an invoice.

Motorists without a PikePass will receive a bill in the mail or can pay online at www.platepay.com "about five days after travelling a turnpike".

OTA says PikePass is the most cost-effective way to travel Oklahoma turnpikes, and its toll tag offers seamless travel on turnpikes within states including Kansas, Texas and some toll roads in Colorado and Florida. 

The conversion began with testing on a small section of the Creek Turnpike in Tulsa in 2017. By 2021, the John Kilpatrick Turnpike corridor in Oklahoma City was the first to convert to cashless tolling. 

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US holiday season: don’t drive - ride!
    November 23, 2022
    Lyft credits are being provided in four US states to discourage seasonal drunk driving
  • The great pay divide
    April 2, 2014
    Public acceptance is crucial for the acceptance of managed and express lanes as Jon Masters discovers. Lists of proposed highway expansion projects introducing variably priced toll lanes continue to lengthen. Managed lanes, or express lanes to some, are gaining support as a politically favourable way of adding capacity and reducing acute congestion on principal highways. In Florida, for example, the managed lanes on the 95 Express are claimed to have significantly increased average peak-time speeds on tolle
  • Panasonic in Colorado: Rocky mountain way
    December 3, 2018
    Panasonic is at the heart of a C-V2X project which began last year in Colorado. The company’s smart mobility boss Chris Armstrong tells Adam Hill how it is working out Colorado needs traffic and transport solutions – and fast. The US state’s population has grown 50% in the last 20 years and another 50% hike is predicted in the next 20. It also spends more than $13 billion in roadway crash costs each year. In 2015, 546 people died in traffic-related crashes, and more than 3,000 were seriously injured.
  • Congestion pricing - no such thing as a free ride
    October 2, 2018
    The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is likely to increase congestion, many experts believe. But Wes Guckert of Traffic Group believes that tolling could provide the answer. While it is still hard to wrap your head around the idea of getting into a vehicle without a driver, the industry is now used to hearing, reading, participating in the advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Those in the industry have heard about Uber delivering a shipment of Budweiser, or the convoy of driverless trucks