Interstate 35 in Oklahoma

Interstate 35
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Length:	235.96 mi (379.74 km)
Major junctions
South end:	I-35 / US 77 at the Texas State Line
	US-70 near Ardmore I‑240 in Oklahoma City I‑235 in Oklahoma City I‑40 in Oklahoma City I‑44 in Oklahoma City US-64 / US-412 / Cimarron Turnpike near Perry
North end:	I-35 / Kansas Turnpike at the Kansas State Line
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Oklahoma State Highways Interstate U.S. Turnpikes ← SH-34 SH-35 →

Oklahoma is the second state that Interstate 35 (I-35) passes through from south to north. In Oklahoma, I-35 runs from the Red River at the Texas border to the Kansas line near Braman, for a length of 236 miles^[1] (372 km). I-35 has one spur route in the state, Interstate 235 in the inner city of Oklahoma City.

Route description

The Oklahoma welcome sign entering the state from Kansas

Interstate 35 enters Oklahoma with U.S. Highway 77 on a bridge over the Red River in Love County, south of Thackerville. US-77 splits off at Exit 1, but parallels the interstate for its entire length in Oklahoma.^[2] I-35 maintains a near-due north–south course through Love and Carter Cos. I-35 provides four exits to Ardmore. After leaving Ardmore, it has a brief concurrency with State Highway 53 and enters Murray County and the Arbuckle Mountains.^[2] I-35 then passes through Garvin County and the county seat of Pauls Valley. North of exit 79, I-35 enters McClain County.^[2] There, it passes through Purcell and Goldsby.

State Highway 9 joins the interstate crossing over the South Canadian River into Cleveland County, after which it splits off again. It then serves as a major urban interstate in Norman and Moore. Between Norman and Moore, US-77 joins the interstate again. It then enters Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County near milepost 120.^[2] Near downtown, I-35 splits off the mainline (which becomes Interstate 235/US-77) and runs concurrent with Interstate 40 for a mile before splitting off to the north again.^[2] Interstate 44 then joins I-35 between mileposts 133 and 137.^[2] In Edmond US-77 joins the interstate yet again.

Interstate 35 in Goldsby, Oklahoma at milemarker 102.

At milepost 146, I-35 enters Logan County. It serves Guthrie at Exit 153, where US-77 splits off, and at Exit 157.^[2] The interstate then crosses the Cimarron River into Payne County and enters Noble County shortly thereafter. It provides two exits to Perry and serves as the western terminus of the Cimarron Turnpike. After providing access to Tonkawa and Blackwell in Kay County, it crosses into Kansas, becoming the Kansas Turnpike.

History

Some sections of I-35 in Oklahoma City were already built in 1953, before the Interstate system was created.^[3] Following the passage of the Federal Highway Act of 1956 that created the Interstate Highway System, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation approved the location of the future interstate north of Oklahoma City to the Kansas state line on a route previously surveyed by the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority for a proposed toll road. As a free road, the first five miles (8 km) of that section of I-35 were opened to traffic in 1958 from US-177 near Braman north to the Kansas border where it continued as the Kansas Turnpike. This was followed by completion of the entire route from Oklahoma City northward to Braman by 1963 in several phases including Edmond to Guthrie in 1960, Guthrie to Perry in 1961, Perry to Blackwell in 1962 and Blackwell to Braman in early 1963.

To the south of Oklahoma City, I-35 was completed through Norman south to Purcell in June 1959. In Moore, it opened in two parts: the northern half, connecting Moore to Oklahoma City, opened in January 1960. The southern half, linking it to Norman, was opened to traffic in June 1967.^[4] The Moore–Norman segment was originally a four-lane section of US-77 built in 1951 that did not meet full Interstate Highway standards and included several at-grade intersections within the City of Moore including some with traffic signals and upgraded accordingly to include grade separations to bring up to full Interstate Highway standards and frontage roads to serve local traffic needs. Also not up to full Interstate Highway standards prior to 1967 was a section in the vicinity of Lindsey Street in the southern portion of Norman where another at-grade intersection still existed which dated back to the original highway's construction in the early 1950s—this was also brought up to full Interstate Highway standards in 1967 with the construction of interchanges on I-35 at Lindsey and a short distance to the south for the future SH-9 bypass that would be built around the south side of Norman in the early 1970s.

Further south, I-35 was completed from Marietta south to the Red River bridge in 1963, at which point a nearly 90-mile (140 km) gap of uncompleted interstate would exist between Purcell and Marietta until the late 1960s with traffic continuing to be routed over paralleling US-77. This was in large part due to efforts of the towns of Wynnewood, Paoli, and Wayne, fighting to keep I-35 as close as possible to US-77. This was successful due to a threat from Governor Henry Bellmon to build a toll road rather than I-35, and legislation preventing state funds for the interstate from being spent if it were more than 1-mile (1.6 km) from the U.S. route.^[5]

The uncompleted gap of I-35 in Southern Oklahoma was narrowed in 1967 and 1968 when two sections were completed from US-70/SH-199 in Ardmore south to SH-32 in Marietta. In 1969, the section of interstate bypassing Ardmore was completed north from US-70 two miles (3 km) to SH-142 and the following year, 1970, brought the completion of I-35 from SH-7 near Davis south to Ardmore, at long last bypassing the winding section of US-77 through the Arbuckle Mountains. This stretch through the Arbuckles was particularly expensive and difficult to construct, taking almost two years and requiring the blasting and removal of 4 million cubic yards of rock.^[6] A few months later in January, 1971, I-35 was finally completed across the state of Oklahoma, when the remaining portions of the interstate from Purcell to SH-7 near Davis were opened to traffic.^[3]

Future

In 2008, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation announced plans to widen 2 miles (3.2 km) of Interstate 35 through Norman, from the Main Street interchange to the McCall Bridge over the South Canadian River (Exit 109).^[7] Controversy surrounding the project arose when early drafts eliminated the SH-74A/Lindsey Street interchange (Exit 108B), due to its proximity to the State Highway 9 interchange (Exit 108A). A public meeting held in Norman attracted 300 attendees, many bearing "Don't Close Lindsey" signs. Attendees cited the impact on local businesses and those attending University of Oklahoma football games as grounds for opposing the closure of the interchange. A former OU economics professor estimated the interchange's closure would cost Norman $100 million over the course of fifteen years.^[8]

At the meeting, four proposals were displayed, only one of which displayed no access from Lindsey Street. A second proposal would preserve access to Lindsey Street but require the seizure of a newly built Chevrolet dealership near the interchange. The third proposal would instead send the ramps around the dealership, and the fourth, the highest-cost alternate, would use bridges to prevent Lindsey Street and SH-9 traffic from conflicting. ODOT said their design standards did not require consideration of OU football traffic, because they only considered the 30th highest traffic percentile. One ODOT engineer was quoted as saying, "Otherwise, we'd have to 10-lane everything in Norman."^[8] In early 2011, a solution was unveiled that would retain access to Lindsey St. and reconstruct the interchange without displacing the dealership.^[9]

In 2014, ODOT completed reconstruction of the Main St. interchange as a Single Point Urban Interchange (SPUI) and widening of I-35 to just south of Main St. In early 2015, ODOT began a two-year, $71 million project to reconstruct the Lindsey St. interchange as a SPUI, reconstruct the SH-9 interchange and complete widening of I-35 to six lanes to the South Canadian River.^[10]

ODOT plans to reconstruct I-35/I-240 interchange in southeast Oklahoma City in several phases, the first beginning in 2016.^[11]

Naming

• Through the Arbuckle Mountains, I-35 is designated as the Honey Creek Pass.
• The bridge over the South Canadian River is the S.K. McCall Memorial Bridge.
• In Moore, I-35 is the Helen Cole Memorial Highway.
• In Edmond, I-35 is the Shannon Miller Parkway.

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Red River		0.00	0.00	I-35 / US 77 continue south into Texas
Love	​			1	US-77 north	Northern terminus of US-77 concurrency
	​			3	Winstar Boulevard
	​			5	SH-153 – Thackerville
	Marietta			15	SH-32 – Marietta, Ryan
	​			21	Oswalt Road
Carter	​			24	SH-77S – Lake Murray State Park
	Ardmore			29	US-70 east – Madill, Ardmore	Southern terminus of US-70 concurrency
				31	US-70 west / SH-199 east – Ardmore, Waurika, Lone Grove	Northern terminus of US-70 concurrency; signed as exits 31A (east) and 31B (west)
				32	12th Street
				33	SH-142 – Ardmore
	​			40	SH-53 east – Springer, Gene Autry	Southern terminus of SH-53 concurrency
	​			42	SH-53 west – Comanche	Northern terminus of SH-53 concurrency
Murray	​			47	US-77 – Turner Falls Area
	​			51	US-77 Turner Falls Area
	​			55	SH-7 – Davis, Duncan, Sulphur
Garvin	​			60	Ruppe Road
	​			64	SH-17A east – Wynnewood
	​			66	SH-29 – Wynnewood, Elmore City
	​			70	Airline Road
	Pauls Valley			72	SH-19 – Pauls Valley, Maysville
	​			74	Kimberlin Road
	​			79	SH-145 east – Paoli
McClain	​			86	SH-59 – Wayne, Payne
	Purcell			91	SH-74 to SH-39 – Purcell, Lexington
				95	To US-77 – Purcell, Lexington	Signed only as "Purcell" northbound
	​			98	Johnson Road
	Goldsby			101	Ladd Road
				104	SH-74 south – Goldsby, Washington
				106	SH-9 west – Chickasha	Southern terminus of SH-9 concurrency
Cleveland	Norman			108A	SH-9 east – Tecumseh	Northern terminus of SH-9 concurrency
				108B	Lindsey Street	Closed for reconstruction
				109	Main Street
				110	Robinson Street, Interstate Drive	Signed as exits 110A (west) and 110B (east) southbound for Robinson Street only
				112	Tecumseh Road
				113	US-77 south – Norman	Southbound exit and northbound entrance, Southern terminus of US-77 concurrency
				114	Indian Hills Road
	Moore			116	S. 19th Street
				117	SH-37 (S. 4th Street) / Main Street, N. 5th Street	Signed only for SH-37 (S. 4th Street) southbound
				118	N. 12th Street, Main Street, N. 5th Street	Signed only for N. 12th Street northbound
				119A	Shields Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				119B	N. 27th Street
	Oklahoma City			120	S.E. 89th Street
Oklahoma				121A	S.E. 82nd Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				121B	I‑240 / US-62 west / SH-3 to I‑40 – Lawton, Fort Smith	I-240 exits 4A-B; Southern terminus of US-62 concurrency.
				122A	S.E. 66th Street	No northbound entrance
				122B	S.E. 59th Street
				123A	S.E. 51st Street	No northbound entrance
				123B	S.E. 44th Street	No southbound entrance
				124A	Grand Boulevard
				124B	S.E. 29th Street, S.E. 25th Street	Signed as exit 125A southbound
				125B	S.E. 15th Street	Signed as exit 125D southbound
				126	I‑235 north (US-77 north) / I‑40 west (US-270 west) – Edmond, State Capitol, Oklahoma Health Center, Amarillo	Southern terminus of I-40/US-270 concurrency, Northern terminus of US-77 concurrency, I-40 exits 151B-C, I-235 exits 1A-B
				127	Eastern Avenue, M.L. King Avenue	Southbound exit is via exit 128
				128	I‑40 east / US-270 east – Ft. Smith	Northern terminus of I-40/US-270 concurrency
				129	N.E. 10th Street
				130	US-62 east (N.E. 23rd Street)	Northern terminus of US-62 concurrency
				131	N.E. 36th Street
				132A	N.E. 50th Street
				132B	N.E. 63rd Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				133	I‑44 west / SH-66 west – Lawton, Amarillo	Southern terminus of I-44/SH-66 concurrency, east exit 130.
				134	Wilshire Boulevard
				135	Britton Road
				136	Hefner Road
				137	N.E. 122nd Street
				138A	I‑44 / Turner Turnpike east – Tulsa	Northern terminus of I-44 concurrency
				138B	Kilpatrick Turnpike west
				138C	Sooner Road	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Edmond			138D	Memorial Road
				139	S.E. 33rd Street
				140	S.E. 15th Street
				141	US-77 south / SH-66 east (2nd Street) – Edmond, Tulsa	Northern terminus of SH-66 concurrency, southern terminus of US-77 concurrency
				142	Danforth Road	Northbound exit, no entrance.
	​			143	Covell Road
	​			146	Waterloo Road
Logan	​			151	Seward Road
	Guthrie			153	US-77 north – Guthrie	Northern terminus of US-77 concurrency
				157	SH-33 – Guthrie, Perkins, Cushing
Payne	​			170	Mulhall Road
	​			174	SH-51 – Stillwater, Hennessey
Noble	​			180	Orlando Road
	Perry			185	US-77 – Perry, Covington
				186	US-64 east (Fir Street) – Perry	Southern terminus of US-64 concurrency
	​			193	Airport Road	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	​			194	US-64 west / US-412 / Cimarron Turnpike east – Tulsa, Enid	Northern terminus of US-64 concurrency; signed as exits 194A (east) and 194B (west); US 412/Cimarron Turnpike exits 1A-B
	​			203	SH-15 – Billings, Marland
Kay	Tonkawa			211	Fountain Road
				214	US-60 – Tonkawa, Ponca City
	​			218	Hubbard Road
	Blackwell			222	SH-11 – Blackwell, Medford
	Braman			230	Braman Road
	​			231	US-177 – Braman
Oklahoma–Kansas state line		235.96	379.74	I-35 continues north into Kansas Kansas Turnpike begins
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References

1. Stuve, Eric. Interstate Highways. OKHighways. 27 February 2007.
2. Official State Map (PDF) (Map) (2009–10 ed.). Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
3. Cockerell, Penny. "50 Years: As the intersection of Interstates 35, 40, and 44, Oklahoma is at America's crossroads." The Daily Oklahoman 29 June 2006: 2A.
4. Medley, Robert. "Higways[sic] continue to drive economy." The Daily Oklahoman 29 June 2006: 1D.
5. McNichol, Dan. The Roads that Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 2006. ISBN 1-4027-3468-9
6. Farmer, Ann. "Old Mountain Area Becomes A New Discovery" The Nevada (Mo.) Sunday Herald (republished for the AP by The Greenville (Tex.) Herald Banner) 9 June 1972: 12.
7. "Norman residents plead with Oklahoma state road officials". NewsOK.com.
8. Cole-Frowe, Carol. "Fired up: Residents fight for Lindsey Street interchange." The Norman Transcript 19 September 2008: A1.
9. "Interstate 35 design plan for Norman widening project unveiled". NewsOK.com.
10. "Work to begin on I-35 widening project in Norman". NewsOK.com.
11. "Construction Work Plan". state.ok.us.

External links

Route map: Bing / Google