Oklahoma Turnpike Authority

[Scott5114]

To get an Interstate designation, a road has to meet a certain set of design standards and pass through an approval process by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It's a somewhat big deal because being an interstate also automatically qualifies a road for national highway funding. Before the 90s it was an even bigger deal since there was special maintenance funding which could only be spent on Interstates.

North of I-44, the Broadway Extension is US-77. I am not sure whether it qualifies for national funding, but I would suspect so, since most freeways do. If ODOT wanted to submit it as an extension to I-235, I imagine it would pass. They just have never done so.

[JDSooners]

To get an Interstate designation, a road has to meet a certain set of design standards and pass through an approval process by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It's a somewhat big deal because being an interstate also automatically qualifies a road for national highway funding. Before the 90s it was an even bigger deal since there was special maintenance funding which could only be spent on Interstates.

North of I-44, the Broadway Extension is US-77. I am not sure whether it qualifies for national funding, but I would suspect so, since most freeways do. If ODOT wanted to submit it as an extension to I-235, I imagine it would pass. They just have never done so.

US77 seems like a designation Oklahoma uses for business routes or a secondary highway that runs parallel to i35, you see it in Guthrie, Norman, Purcell, Paul's valley, Wynnewood, Davis ardmore, Marietta thackerville to name the towns I'm familiar with, just like route 66 runs with 40 and 44

I'm old enough to remember the construction of 235, as it significantly shortened my dad's commute to work from Britton road to over by the old Paris flea market

[Scott5114]

US77 seems like a designation Oklahoma uses for business routes or a secondary highway that runs parallel to i35, you see it in Guthrie, Norman, Purcell, Paul's valley, Wynnewood, Davis ardmore, Marietta thackerville to name the towns I'm familiar with, just like route 66 runs with 40 and 44

This was actually negotiated with the towns south of Norman when I-35 was built through the area. They were afraid that the new highway would be too far away from them and cut them off from traffic. They got the state to intervene on their behalf, and Governor Bellmon threatened the Bureau of Public Roads that he'd build a turnpike instead of I-35 if the route was too far from the existing one. The Legislature went a step further and passed a law saying state money couldn't be spent on I-35 through southern Oklahoma if it were more than one mile away from US-77.

I am not exactly sure where BPR intended to send I-35, if not down the US-77 corridor. In most other situations they preferred to route interstates down existing US routes and just bypass the towns. This was done with I-40 west of Oklahoma City; much of it is actually built on top of the old US-66 roadbed.