The Chickasaw Nation recently held a ceremony in Thackerville, Oklahoma to open two highway ramps north of its WinStar World Casino that will ease traffic congestion, especially at night. One ramp connects southbound lanes of I-35 to Winstar Boulevard and the other routes drivers traveling north from Winstar Boulevard onto the interstate. At the ceremony, Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby said, “This provides an opportunity to provide greater access to our facilities but also to diminish the safety hazard that’s here because of all the traffic.”
Officials said every day about 7,200 vehicles will use the ramps, which cost an estimated $14 million. Oklahoma Department of Transportation Director Mike Patterson noted, “The Chickasaw Nation bore most of the cost of the project and when I say most we just might as well call it all the cost. He added ODOT had wanted to do something about the traffic back-ups, caused by the casino, for about the past 10 years. “Many times traffic was backing up on I-35 and it was a concern to us. There were accidents that occurred that caused us to look at needing to introduce a new interchange to this area,” he said.
