The Turner Turnpike Corridor through Lincoln County is getting a bigger facelift beyond the ongoing widening project. With projects completed or nearly completed in Stroud and Wellston, the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA) is gearing up to start work in Chandler and near Davenport.
OTA is planning to reconstruct the State Highway 18 bridge at Chandler and widen it to five lanes, including a turning lane, according to OTA Chief of Public Relations Lisa Shearer-Salim. It will also reconstruct the on and off ramps into what Shearer-Salim called a modified diamond interchange.
Currently, to get on the turnpike going westbound, motorists take a ramp bridge that goes over the turnpike. That ramp will be completely eliminated, which removes one of the lowest vertical clearance bridges in the OTA’s system.
“That solves a lot of our bridge hit issues in that location,” Shearer-Salim said.
The OTA will also relocate or reconstruct on and off ramps for the updated interchange, making it so there is an on and off ramp both north and south of the turnpike, she said, with the westbound off-ramp going through the old Chandler rest area. During this project, the OTA will also do some of the pre-work needed for the widening project.
Shearer-Salim said the project is currently scheduled to let out to bid this summer, with construction expected to start in late 2026/early 2027. It’ll take about a year to complete. The OTA is also including incentives for early completion for the winning contractor.
There will be some limited nighttime closures on theTurnerTurnpike during the bridge demolition and bridge beam installation on Hwy 18. Shearer-Salim said it would only be a handful of nights with some lane closures. The Turner should remain open to two lanes in each direction, though some may be narrowed or shifted a bit. The ramps are expected to remain open for most of the project until the very end, when the new ramps are being tied in.
“I think that’ll be a great project, and I am sure it will alleviate some of the traffic issues there. I think that it will just make all of that interchange work a lot more smoothly,” she said.
The project is expected to cost an estimated $49.8 million, and OTA has already completed some of the land purchases.
Davenport is set to get an interchange and exit that will connect the Turner Turnpike to the town via 3305 Road, according to Shearer-Salim. The bridge currently over the turnpike at the road will be replaced with a bigger two-lane bridge that has 10-foot driving lanes and two-foot shoulders on each side.The bulk of the interchange will be to the east of the 3305 Road Bridge to avoid Dry Creek. There will be new on and off ramps for both westbound and eastbound traffic.
About 30 percent of the design work is currently done, with the project estimated to go to bid letting in late 2030 and construction expected to start in early 2031, though it’s subject to change depending on design timelines. It’s an estimated $37 million project.
“It’s going to benefit both the community of Davenport, but also motorists on the Turner Turnpike. If, for some reason, there’s a crash that is blocking lanes, they now will have an additional exit to be able to exit on and off and avoid those delays from a wreck,” Shearer-Salim said. “It’s going to provide faster access to the Turner for emergency personnel services. So there’s a lot of benefit to this.”
Work at Stroud is for all intents and purposes complete, with just a few items left to cover, according to the OTA.The $38.5 million project began in late 2024 and included realigning the westbound lanes to the south to be next to the existing eastbound lanes and a full reconstruction of the service plaza.
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