U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma

Former highway in Oklahoma

The historic U. S. Route 66 (US 66, Route 66), sometimes known as the Will Rogers Highway after Oklahoma native Will Rogers, 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.) Over the years, many portions of Route 66 west of Oklahoma City were replaced with I 40. On the other hand, the Turner Turnpike and Will Rogers Turnpike were built parallel to Route 66 east of Oklahoma City, and Route 66 remained on the old road as a free alternate to the turnpikes. Route 66 was eliminated by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials on April 1, 1985. In Oklahoma, the portions west of Oklahoma City that had not been rerouted onto I 40 became business loops of I 44 through Sayre, Elk City, Clinton, and El Reno. The still independent route, starting at US 81 in southeastern El Reno, became SH 66, using surface streets except through Oklahoma City and Tulsa, where Route 66 had been rerouted onto the freeways. SH 66 ends at US 60 west of Vinita, where Route 66 overlapped US 60 and US 69 to east of Commerce. The remaining independent portion to the Kansas state line became part of a new US 69 Alternate.

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. It became part of Route 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 Route 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. By 1935 Route 66 used May Avenue rather than Western Avenue; the alternate route continued to use Western Avenue, 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. (SH 3 used the Northwest Expressway west of May Avenue.) The old Route 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. 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.

By 1929, Route 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. 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 Route 66 alignment through downtown.) 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. Route 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, 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.

This list follows the final non freeway alignment.

US 66 in Oklahoma is home to many National Register of Historic Places sites connected in some way with the historic highway. Fort Reno served as a US military post from 1874 (long before Oklahoma attained statehood) through World War II. The Chandler Armory, built under the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, served as home of the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma National Guard during World War II and continued in service until replaced by a modern building in 1971. It was restored in 2007 as Chandler's Route 66 information site and convention hall. Miami's Coleman Theatre, established 1929. has long entertained visitors with everything from live music to cinema. Miami also has the Miami Original Nine Foot Section of Route 66 Roadbed, which along with the Coleman Theater is on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ottawa County, Oklahoma. A drive in theater, The Tee Pee, is located in Sapulpa. The restored native folk art collection of Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park in Foyil dates from 1937. Tulsa landmarks include the giant Meadow Gold neon sign at 11th & Peoria. Originally at 11th & Lewis, this 1934 sign has two faces and has been mounted on a pavilion at its new location for visibility. Arcadia's Round Barn has served as a de facto community hall since 1898. The distinctive large dome of the Beckham County Courthouse has stood over downtown Sayre since 1911. McLain Rogers Park, constructed as a Clinton city park as part of a Great Depression Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Civil Works Administration, and the Works Progress Administration joint project, includes playgrounds, tennis and volleyball courts, miniature golf, picnic areas, a baseball field and a bandstand. Various Oklahoma road segments are of historical importance, including the 11th Street Arkansas River Bridge in Tulsa, the Lake Overholser Bridge in Oklahoma City and the Bridge #18 at Rock Creek (which has been restored and is open) in Sapulpa.

The 1939 sandstone Rock Café contains a large collection of both local memorabilia and souvenirs from Pixar's research of US 66 in the area for the animated film Cars. Proprietor Dawn Welch is the model on which Sally Carrera, the Radiator Springs hotelier who fights to rebuild and restore the town, is based. A Milk Bottle Grocery occupies a tiny corner of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma near the Gold Dome, its small building overshadowed by a huge milk bottle constructed as an advertisement on the store's roof. A 66 foot tall neon roadside sign in the shape of a soda pop bottle marks Pops restaurant in Arcadia. Pops is a modern attraction situated near the Arcadia round barn. The Chelsea Motel in Chelsea and West Winds Motel in Erick, once lured many weary travellers from US 66 but lost their clientele when the road was bypassed. Both are still extant but have been converted to other uses; they are no longer open to the public.

Lucille Hamons operated the Provine Service Station near Hydro, Oklahoma from 1941 until her death in 2000, earning the title "Mother of the Mother Road" for her widely reputed generosity to travellers during hard economic times. After the freeway bypassed the site, the Interstate highway passed directly in front of old Route 66 and the Hamons' Court but was separated by a fence and provided no easy access to the site as the only off ramps were in Hydro and Weatherford. Other historic stations which remain on US 66 in Oklahoma include Avant's Cities Service Station and Jackson Conoco Service Station in El Reno, Oklahoma, a Marathon Station in Miami, the Seaba Station in Warwick, the Threatt Filling Station in Luther, the Vickery Phillips 66 Station in Tulsa and the Y Service Station and Café in Clinton.

The National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Oklahoma, is operated by the Elk City Chamber of Commerce. It includes history and displays about all eight states through which Route 66 runs, from Illinois to California. The Route 66 museum is part of the larger Old Town Museum Complex which showcases pioneer life in western Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton was built on land donated by the late Walter S. Mason Jr., a retired country veterinarian who once served as president of the Best Western hotel chain. It is designed to display the iconic ideas, images, and myths of the Mother Road. Tulsa, Oklahoma, has The Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza, located next to the east entrance of the historic 11th Street Bridge. The bridge was one of the large motivating factors in building the Route through Tulsa, avoiding having to build another bridge over the Arkansas. The Plaza contains a giant sculpture weighing and costing $1.178 million called "East Meets West" of the Avery family riding west in a Model T Ford meeting an eastbound horse drawn carriage. In 2020, Avery Plaza Southwest opened at the west end of the bridge, which features a “neon park” with replicas of the neon signs from Tulsa area Route 66 motels of the era, including the Tulsa Auto Court, the Oil Capital Motel, and the famous bucking bronco sign of the Will Rogers Motor Court. Tulsa has also installed "Route 66 Rising," a 70' by 30' sculpture on the road's former eastern approach to town at East Admiral Place and Mingo Road. On Southwest Boulevard, between W. 23rd and W. 24th Streets there is a granite marker dedicated to Route 66 as the Will Rogers Highway which features an image of namesake Will Rogers together with information on the route from Michael Wallis, author of Route 66: The Mother Road; and, at Howard Park just past W. 25th Street, three Indiana limestone pillars are dedicated to Route 66 through Tulsa, with Route 66 #1 devoted to Transportation, Route 66 #2 devoted to Tulsa Industry and Native American Heritage, and Route 66 #3 devoted to Art Deco Architecture and American Culture. At 3770 Southwest Blvd. is the Route 66 Historical Village, which includes a tourism information center modeled after a 1920s 1930s gas station, and other period appropriate artifacts such as the Frisco 4500 steam locomotive with train cars. Elsewhere, Tulsa has constructed twenty nine historical markers scattered along the 26 mile route of the highway through Tulsa, containing tourist oriented stories, historical photos, and a map showing the location of historical sites and the other markers. Just west of Tulsa in Sapulpa is the Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum which opened in August 2016 in an Armory built in 1948. It features the world's tallest replica of an antique visible gas pump, being 66 feet in height. The globe was placed on top and lights turned on July 20, 2017. The Afton Station Packard Museum in Afton is a former filling station restored as a privately owned museum, offering souvenirs and Route 66 information. A Memorial Museum to Will Rogers is located in Claremore, Oklahoma, while his Birthplace Ranch is maintained in Oologah, Oklahoma.