Interstate 35 in Oklahoma

Infobox road
state=OK
route=35
type=I


maint=ODOT
length_mi=235.96
length_round=2
length_ref=Stuve, Eric. [http://okhighways.com/interstates.html Interstate Highways] . "OKHighways". 27 February 2007.]
year_established=
direction_a=South
terminus_a=Jct|state=TX|I|35 near Thackerville
junction=Jct|state=OK|I|240 in Oklahoma City Jct|state=OK|I|235 in Oklahoma City Jct|state=OK|I|40in Oklahoma City Jct|state=OK|I|44 in Oklahoma City Cimarron Turnpike near Enid
direction_b=North
terminus_b=Jct|state=KS|I|35|KSTP| near Braman
previous_type=SH
previous_route=34
next_type=SH
next_route=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 (372 km). I-35 has one spur route in the state, Interstate 235.

Route description

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. 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. I-35 then passes through Garvin County and the county seat of Pauls Valley. North of exit 79, I-35 enters McClain County. 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. Near downtown Oklahoma City, 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. Interstate 44 then joins I-35 between mileposts 133 and 137. In Edmond US-77 joins the interstate yet again.

At milepost 146, I-35 enters Logan County. It serves Guthrie at Exit 153, where US-77 splits off, and at Exit 157. 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. Through Norman, Oklahoma, the interstate opened 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.Medley, Robert. "Higways ["sic"] continue to drive economy." "The Daily Oklahoman" 29 June 2006: 1D.]

I-35 through Oklahoma largely parallels U.S. Highway 77 in Oklahoma. This is in large part due to efforts of the towns of Wynnewood, Paoli, and Wayne, which fought 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 from the U.S. route. [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]

I-35 was completed in Oklahoma in 1971, when parts of the interstate running through Carter Co. and Murray Co. were opened to traffic.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.]

Future

ODOT has announced plans to widen convert|2|mi|km of Interstate 35 through Norman, from the McCall Bridge over the Canadian River to the Main Street interchange (Exit 109). Controversy surrounding the project arose when early drafts eliminated the SH-74A/Lindsey Street interchange (Exit 108B), due to its proximity to the SH-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.Cole-Frowe, Carol. "Fired up: Residents fight for Lindsey Street interchange." "The Norman Transcript" 19 September 2008: A1.]

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."

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

References