AAA URGES LEGISLATURE TO GIVE HIGH PRIORITY TO SAFETY OF OKLAHOMA FAMILIES ON THE ROAD

AAA Oklahoma endorses ‘Fix Our Roads’ plan. Tells Legislature that failure to act puts Oklahoma families at risk.

NEWS from AAA Oklahoma, Feb. 25 – AAA, representing more than 325,000 members in the state of Oklahoma, today announced its support and endorsement of the TRUST Coalition’s “Fix Our Roads – Be F.O.R. It!” campaign to stop the diversion of road taxes and fees to non-transportation spending. The TRUST (Transportation Revenues Used Strictly for Transportation) Coalition is a group of individuals, organizations, companies and chambers of commerce dedicated to boosting highway funding in the state.

“Two of Oklahoma’s most critical highway arteries, the Crosstown I-40 in Oklahoma City and I-244 in Tulsa, have structural ratings worse than the Minnesota bridge that collapsed last August,” said Chuck Mai, spokesman for AAA Oklahoma. “In addition, thousands of county and rural roads and bridges in our state are in deplorable condition. 

“It’s time for the legislature to keep their commitment to fund our state’s roads and bridges. Failure to do so will continue to compromise the safety of Oklahoma families on our roadways and will result in the loss of $127 million in scheduled repair and construction projects in the state’s current eight-year construction plan.”

Mai pointed out that highway funds in Minnesota were earmarked for a baseball stadium, among other things, and the results of that clearly contributed to collapse of the I-35 bridge last summer. 

“AAA is urging its members and all Oklahomans to get involved in the highway funding campaign by contacting their legislators with their thoughts,” said Mai. “Online visitors can do so by logging on to www.RestoreTRUST.org and clicking on the Citizen Action page.”

TRUST’s Fix Our Roads campaign includes legislative goals that over a period of time would transfer the 30 percent of motor vehicle tag fees currently going to general government to transportation priority areas instead, resulting in an additional $200 million annually going for the state’s roads and bridges. 

Additionally, the campaign would remove the three percent economic growth trigger from the state’s funding formula and raise the cap on state spending for transportation to $500 million annually.