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

  • Report analyses multiple ITS projects to highlight cost and benefits
    March 16, 2015
    Every year in America cost benefit analysis is carried out on dozens of ITS installations and pilot studies and the findings, along with the lessons learned, are entered into the Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) web-based ITS Knowledge Resources database. This database holds more than 1,600 reports and periodically the USDOT reviews the material on file to draw conclusions from this wider body of evidence. It has just published one such review ITS Benefits, Costs, and Lessons Learned: 2014 Update Re
  • Siemens company offers 'best price' transport
    August 19, 2021
    System charges the lowest price following all journeys made within a month
  • Chris Tomlinson: 'My golden rule is have an open mind’
    July 27, 2021
    The executive director of Georgia’s mobility authorities explains tolling’s place in demand management, the benefits of being mode-agnostic and how to learn from other agencies
  • Study: How to fund Interstate highways in a way truckers and drivers can support
    July 24, 2015
    As the US Congress once again struggles to find funding for a long-term highway bill, a new Reason Foundation study details why truckers should embrace the use of tolling to finance the reconstruction and modernisation of aging Interstate highways, describes how all-electronic tolling can solve the industry’s previous privacy and logistical concerns about toll roads and proposes a set of rules to ensure that the tolls paid by truckers and motorists are used only to rebuild and widen the newly tolled Inters