Spending Bill Passed By Congress Includes Money For Oklahoma Roads, Bridges

A portion of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill passed through Congress could soon find its way to Oklahoma. The massive bill will fund the government through September, provide aid to Ukraine, give troops raises, fund education and more.

The bill also includes earmarks, meaning some of it will go to specific projects in Oklahoma. There are projects that Senator Jim Inhofe and Governor Kevin Stitt's DC office tell us they fought for.

"They've really done a great job," said Tim Gatz, the state secretary of transportation.

$37.5 million of the allocation will go to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, mostly to add shoulders to rural and two lane highways. Gatz said it's funding his department doesn’t budget for but is thankful to get.

"It's a long process and it's very deliberate,” said Gatz. “Because we're wanting to make sure we're getting dollars to really critical needs in our transportation system."

Gatz said the projects queued up will get started right away, in areas he said have high crash rates and are in desperate need of improvements. It will also speed up other projects in their eight year plan.

"If the dollars materialize, that helps advance them faster and again have that opportunity to fill in behind them and move other projects forward faster," said Gatz.

In addition to highway funding, $4 million will also go to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics. More than half a million will go to a biorepository.

Representatives Cole and Lucas also secured funding for five other projects.

One of the projects also includes replacing the US 169 ramp over I-244 in Tulsa.