U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma
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| Will Rogers Highway | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by ODOT (I-40 Bus., SH-66); county and local gov'ts | ||||
| Length: | 374.6 mi (602.9 km) (as close as possible to the latest surface alignments, except at Tulsa and Oklahoma City) The length of SH-66 is 192.8 mi (310.3 km) |
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| Existed: | December 7, 1926 – April 1, 1985 | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end: |
 US 66 at Texas state line |
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| East end: |
US-66 at Kansas state line |
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| Highway system | ||||
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Oklahoma State Highway System
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The historic U.S. Route 66 (US 66, Route 66) 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. However, from Oklahoma City northeast to Kansas, the bypassing I-44 is mostly a toll road, and SH-66 remains as a free alternate.
The history of Route 66 in Oklahoma can be traced back to two auto trails—the St. Louis, Missouri–Las Vegas, New Mexico, main route of the Ozark Trails network, and the Fort Smith, Arkansas–Amarillo, Texas, Postal Highway. In the state highway system, approved in mid-1924, the portions of these in Oklahoma, which crossed at Oklahoma City, became SH-7 and SH-3 respectively. US 66 was designated in late 1926, and followed these state highways with one exception: a new SH-39 was created to carry Route 66, leaving SH-7 at Commerce and heading east and north to the state line in the direction of Baxter Springs, Kansas. (The short stub of SH-7 north of Commerce remained until it became part of US-69 in the mid-1930s.)
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