U.S. Route 66 (US 66, Route 66) in Oklahoma ran from west to northeast across the state of Oklahoma, along the path now taken by Interstate 40 (I-40) and State Highway 66 (SH-66). It passed through Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and many smaller communities. West of the Oklahoma City area, it has been largely replaced by I-40; the few independent portions that are still state-maintained are now I-40 Business. From Oklahoma City northeast to Kansas, the bypassing I-44 is mostly a toll road, and SH-66 remains as a free alternate.
Route description
Texas border to Elk City
By 1916, a series of unpaved state roads was laid out from Texola, just east of the Texas state line, east via Erick to Delhi, north to Sayre, and east and north via Doxey to Elk City.Oklahoma Department of Highways, The State of Oklahoma , 1916: this map shows the original main road, mostly along section lines, though it is occasionally off by a mile from what other sources indicate. It became part of US 66 in 1926; this initial alignment ran along the state line from a bit south of the old railroad grade south to E1240 Road, and then ran east through Texola on Fifth Street. After a mile south on N1680 Road, it turned east on E1250 Road to Erick, then south again on N1750 Road, east on E1260 Road, south on N1810 Road, and east on E1270 Road to Delhi. Traffic turned north at N1870 Road (now US 283), jogging west on E1250 Road at the mismatch in the section lines, and entered Sayre on N1870 Road. The bridge over the North Fork of the Red River in Sayre was built of timber in 1924 and upgraded and widened with steel in 1933. It was bypassed in 1958, and has been demolished; its remains are on private property. The original US 66 passed through Sayre on Main Street (now SH-152) and Fourth Street, leaving to the east on Benton Boulevard (E1180 Road). It then turned north on N1900 Road, east on E1170 Road (there was a cutoff on the southeast side of the railroad at this turn), north on N1960 Road, east on E1160 Road, and north on N2000 Road into Elk City on Randall Avenue. Short sections of this — a bridge on E1170 Road east of N1950 Road (SH-34) and the crossing of Elk City Lake on N2000 Road — no longer exist.
A new alignment from the state line to Elk City was built in the late 1920s. It only coincided with the earlier route through Texola and through Sayre; the rest was entirely separate. Except in Sayre, where the city had paved the road with Portland cement (PC) in 1926, the state began paving the road in 1928 and 1929 with asphalt over a concrete base from Elk City to several miles east of Hext. It switched to PC in 1929, paving the remainder from east of Hext to the state line from 1929 to 1931. This alignment followed E1240 Road from the state line to Texola, and then the present main road through Erick and Hext to south of Sayre. The old cement lies in the center of the four-lane road through Texola, and then mainly follows the westbound lanes to Erick, through which it again lies in the center. A short abandoned piece of PC, including ruins from a former bridge over a creek, is located to the south of the road, between N1700 and N1710 Roads. Beyond Erick, the PC was again built in the present location of the westbound lanes, but has since been paved over until the I-40 interchange (exit 11). Just past exit 11, the road becomes two lanes, and the original road — mostly built as PC, but later resurfaced in asphalt, and once the westbound lanes of a divided highway - is now abandoned to the north of the open roadway; a 1928 concrete federal aid primary marker lies west of Hext. Beyond Hext, where I-40 comes in from the south, the two-lane road crosses to the original roadway; the later eastbound lanes are now the westbound lanes of I-40. The 1929 alignment curved to the north into N1870 Road west of exit 20, following Main Street and Fourth Street as the original route did. However, it continued beyond Benton Boulevard to Sayre Avenue, turning off onto the present four-lane I-40 Bus. towards I-40 exit 25. Just prior to the exit, US 66 curved northeast along the northside frontage road. It crossed to the south side after exit 26, crossing Timber Creek on a 1928 through truss bridge, and crossed again just east of the N1910 Road overpass. This part of the north frontage road, from east of N1910 Road to exit 32, retains the original 1928–1929 paving, as well as a 1926 box drain. Between exit 32 and Elk City, the original road (resurfaced) is now the westbound lanes of I-40 Bus., where another 1926 box drain still stands.
A second set of lanes was added, mostly on the south side of the two-lane road, from 1955 to 1961, except through Texola, Erick, and Sayre, where the existing road was widened to four lanes. The old road was bypassed in several places: west of Texola, where the new road went diagonally northwest to the state line; between N1700 and N1710 Roads, where a straighter alignment was built to the north; entering Sayre from the south, where it continued on what is now the northside frontage road to Fourth Street (effective July 14, 1958); and at Timber Creek, where the two-lane road used the southside frontage road, and both directions of the four-lane road used the present I-40. Between the Sayre and Elk City business loops, except over Timber Creek, the new eastbound lanes are now the eastbound lanes of I-40; further west, between Sayre and Hext, they are the present westbound lanes.
I-40 was completed in its present state in 1966 between Sayre and Elk City; the bypasses of both cities opened in October 1970, with the Sayre bypass project extending west to the point east of Hext where I-40 curves away from the old road. (The relocation here was made on June 1, 1970.) The rest of I-40 west to Texas opened on September 2, 1975. Except for the bypasses around Sayre and Elk City, US 66 was moved to the new I-40; most of it was given to Beckham County, but the old route through Erick, which had overlapped SH-30, became SH-30 Business. When US 66 was decommissioned on April 1, 1985, the Sayre and Elk City business loops were created. I-40 Business through Erick, between exits 5 and 11, replaced SH-30 Bus. in 1987, based on traffic data.
Through Oklahoma City US 66 was signed in Oklahoma City by 1929. Its initial routing entered from the west on 39th Street and turned south on Classen Boulevard and east on 23rd Street. SH-7 entered from the south on Robinson Avenue, which also carried SH-4, SH-9, and US 77. At the intersection of 23rd Street and Lincoln Boulevard, just north of the State Capitol, SH-3 and SH-9 continued east, along with US 266, while the other routes, including US 66, turned north. After leaving the city limits, continuing on Lincoln Boulevard (including the present Beverly Drive), it jogged east on Grand Boulevard (now I-44) to reach Kelley Avenue. By 1931, traffic was routed via Western Avenue rather than Classen Boulevard, and a new US 66 Alternate bypassed downtown, turning north rather than south on Western Avenue to Britton and east on Britton Road to Kelley Avenue.Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Official Highway Map (back side) , July 1, 1931 By 1935 US 66 used May Avenue rather than Western Avenue; the alternate route continued to use Western Avenue,Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Official State Highway Map of Oklahoma (back side) , 1935 moving to Classen Boulevard south of 53rd Street on March 18, 1936. The alternate route was eventually moved to May Avenue on May 6, 1947.
On March 2, 1953, about the time the Northwest Expressway, Northeast Expressway, and Turner Turnpike were completed, US 66 was realigned to make use of this bypass. It turned north from 39th Street at May Avenue to reach the expressways, and followed them to Kelley, where it continued to turn north towards Edmond. The continuation of the Northeast Expressway to the Oklahoma City Terminus of the turnpike was labeled SH-66A; this route had extended west to May Avenue before March 2.Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Oklahoma (back side) , 1953 (SH-3 used the Northwest Expressway west of May Avenue.) The old US 66 through downtown, via May Avenue, 23rd Street, and Lincoln Boulevard, became US 66 Business, and the alternate route was eliminated. A short realignment was made on August 2, 1954, using the new West Expressway from 39th Street and May Avenue to the Northwest Expressway west of Classen Boulevard.
SH-66A became part of US 66 by 1956, when the new road (now I-35) was built from the Turner Turnpike north to US 66 east of Edmond. The old route via Edmond became SH-66 (and SH-77, since it had replaced US 77).Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Oklahoma (front side) , 1956 The business route was deleted on March 5, 1979, and at about the same time the new route of the West Expressway, bypassing Classen Circle, was completed.Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Oklahoma 1979 Map (front side)
Through Tulsa
By 1929, US 66 had been marked through Tulsa, entering from the southwest on Southwest Boulevard (then Quanah Avenue) to the old 11th Street Bridge over the Arkansas River, being a concrete arch bridge from 1916 that is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The route left the bridge on Maybelle Avenue, and turned east on 11th Street, north on Cheyenne Avenue, east on 7th Street, north on Detroit Avenue, east on 2nd Street, north on Lewis Avenue, and east on Admiral Place to the city limits. Outside the city, the original route turned south on Mingo Road and east on 11th Street, turning north on 193rd Avenue to reach Catoosa.Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Official Map of the State Highways of Oklahoma (back side) , January 1, 1929 A relocation, approved on July 7, 1932, simplified the routing through Tulsa, taking it east on 11th Street all the way from the bridge to 193rd Avenue. (US 75 and SH-11 remained on Admiral Place, the former using the old US 66 alignment through downtown.)Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Oklahoma's Memorial Highways & Bridges: Historic Route 66, including maps from Jim Ross, Oklahoma Route 66, 2001Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Official State Highway Map (back side) , August 1933
US 66 Bypass was established on June 4, 1951, along the proposed Skelly Drive, which was not finished until the late 1950s, when it became part of I-44. US 66 itself was moved to Skelly Drive on November 3, 1959, and the old route on Southwest Boulevard and 11th Street, west of the Skelly Drive interchange east of downtown, became US 66 Business. (The only change in this route was made in the early 1970s,Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory database, 2006 during construction of I-444, when it was moved to 12th Street west of Denver Avenue.) The business route was eliminated on January 15, 1973, removing all state highways from surface streets in downtown Tulsa, except for a temporary routing of US 64 and SH-51 on 15th Street until the Broken Arrow Expressway was completed.Oklahoma State Highway Commission, Oklahoma 1974 Map (back side)
Tulsa to Kansas border
As with the rest of US 66 in Oklahoma, the majority of this segment follows SH-66, with a number of older alignments that take US 66 through many of the communities along the way. From the northeast side of Tulsa, at the intersection of 193rd Ave and I-44/SH-66, two routes are available, depending on which sources one considers to be official:
The first route proceeds north on 193rd Ave, crossing under I-44, and turns northeast onto Cherokee St. This route turns east onto Rice St, crosses SH-66, and then turns northeast onto "Old US Highway 66". This road turns north as it joins with 225th St. This road splits into a "Y" just before it intersects with SH-66. Maps indicate that both sides of the "Y" intersect with SH-66, and that the right side of this "Y" leads the traveler to cross SH-66 again, to find an abandoned segment of US 66 on the other side.