A house of cards, built from a deck of lies
Back in the 1950’s, when the Turner Turnpike connecting Oklahoma City to Tulsa was opened, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) promised that when the bonds used to pay for the Turner were paid off, it would convert to a free road.
That never happened, though, did it? Why?
Because the bonds were never allowed to come to maturity and be “paid off.”
Through a mind-numbing scheme called “cross-pledging,” which the OTA erroneously claims to this day was “approved by the voters,” but was actually passed by the Legislature, the bonds used to fund the Turner Turnpike were never paid off. Instead, they were refinanced (the OTA calls this “refunding”).
In fact, in it’s 70+ year history, the OTA has never “paid off” a bond.
Cross-pledging (derived from House Bill 933, passed into law in 1955) allows the OTA to take “excess revenues” from turnpikes operating “in the black,” and use that money to pay for turnpikes that are operating “in the red.” HB993 also provided that when the bonds for any turnpike were “paid-off,” then that turnpike was considered a “paid-out” project and the “paid-out” turnpike would continue to operate as a tollroad as long as any bonds remainied outstanding on any turnpike.