[4] In January 2016, a group calling itself Citizens Opposed to the Eastern Oklahoma County Loop-Turnpike-Interstate was reported to have created a Facebook page in opposition to the proposed turnpike.

[10] Following months of meetings and protests, Neal McCaleb, interim director for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (OTA), released a statement saying that, because of public input and the work of engineering professionals, the estimated number of homes that would eventually be lost to construction had been reduced by 22 percent, from 103 houses to 80.

In August 2016, a lawsuit was filed against the OTA, claiming that the agency, in issuing $900 million in bonds to be used for multiple toll road projects, was in violation of the Oklahoma Constitution, which stipulates that laws passed may address only one subject.

[11] On December 13, 2016, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in favor of the OTA, stating that the agency had properly authorized the bond issue and given "valid notice of this application.

ODOT Director Tim Gatz stated in the Transportation Commission meeting that the numbering change was primarily to aid in navigation using digital mapping and routing applications.

That's common practice across the country, and you'll see that in many of the metropolitan areas, and that update will really be beneficial as far as everything from signage to how do you describe that route on a green-and-white sign."

The rate hike was implemented to help fund the Driving Forward initiative, which includes improvements and/or extensions to five other Oklahoma toll roads, as well as the construction of the Kickapoo Turnpike from scratch.