The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority will host two public meetings for residents to share input on the South Extension turnpike, part of the ACCESS Oklahoma long-range plan.

The meeting dates are:

5-7 p.m. Monday, May 19, at Countdown Event Center, 3201 Deskin Dr., Norman

5-7 p.m. Wednesday, May 21, at the Purcell Multi-Purpose Center, 1400 Chandler Park Rd., Purcell.

OTA is seeking input from residents, property owners and business owners, especially those who may not have had an opportunity to provide input yet.

The future South Extension Turnpike must move to the west of a previously proposed alignment.

The South Extension will connect the East-West Connector with I-35 to the south, serving as a traffic reliever route for the congested I-35 Southern Corridor by moving heavy truck traffic out of the city center.

Officials said this will improve safety by lessening congestion between Purcell and Oklahoma City.

Since OTA has been cleared of all legal challenges, it is restarting design work to modify a previous alignment to determine the least impactful location while serving growing traffic needs in the area.

“We encourage residents in Cleveland and McClain counties to attend the meetings and share ideas,” said OTA spokesperson for the South Extension project Terri Angier.

“These public meetings are important. The comments, information and input we receive will help our engineers working on the route alignment study and ultimately guide the OTA’s decision making for the South Extension.”

Those attending the meeting will be asked to share information with the engineering design team about their area to help OTA modify the previous alignment.

The Authority is looking for the public’s ideas of what engineers should look out for and what things the public would like the design team to know about the area just west of the previous alignment.

Based on input from these meetings, a new route alignment will be determined and will be available by this fall. Input now is critical, which is why OTA is inviting the public to be part of the process.

OTA also will provide information about the need for the project and share OTA’s vision and time line for the design process.

To learn more about ACCESS Oklahoma, visit www.AccessOklahoma.com.