Work Begins on Luther Turnpike Exit

Officials broke ground this morning on an Eastern Oklahoma County toll gate on the Turner Turnpike. <br /><br /><a href="http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/griffin/NEWS9/PDF/1006/luthergate.pdf" target="_blank">Ariel View of Plans for Exit</a>

Thursday, June 24th 2010, 12:58 pm

By: News 9


By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

LUTHER, Oklahoma – Officials broke ground Thursday morning on an Eastern Oklahoma County toll gate on the Turner Turnpike.

Phase one of the Eastern Oklahoma County Turnpike gate, also known as Luther Gate, will give access to residents in the area to and from Oklahoma City on the Turner Turnpike.

Emergency responders in Luther say this gate will help them decrease their response times.

"This will help us with distance and cut down on time," Luther Police Chief Moore said. "When we transport prisoners or have to file charges at the District Attorney's office, that takes at least 3 hours of my day to go there and back. We're looking at a 45 minute drive one way."

"Being in a small town in a rural area, we respond to a lot of calls a lot of metropolitan wouldn't. We respond to cows walking down a road, a dog in somebody's yard, a snake in their bathroom," Moore added.

Chief Moore said the fire department also will benefit from the turnpike gate.

"The area the department is responsible for is larger than the town of Luther, if we get a call out to a neighboring town for mutual aid request, let's say Arcadia or the Hickory Hills Fire Department needs help, we'll have that shorten response time to get from point A to point B," Moore said.

Luther Mayor Edward Threatt said the town hopes having an exit off of the highway connecting Oklahoma City and Tulsa will bring more business to Luther.

"We're looking forward to more people to move into this area, for a business boom and many jobs in the process," Mayor Threatt said.

County Commissioner Willa Johnson also believes Luther will become a "Boomtown," it's just been 30 years in the making.

"I feel like I can fly. This is just one of the better things about what I do is to drive by and see a project come into fruition on my watch," Johnson said.

By this time next year, phase one of the interchange will be open. It will cost $8.2 million to construct. Phase two of the project will be the completion of the interchange to and from Tulsa. The funding for that project is still pending.

Aerial View of Plans for Exit | Learn More about Turnpike Projects in the State

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