Great map. Does it show that Route 66 also traveled through the Asian District along Classen?

You’ll have to get OKC government on board, because to date, they seem determined to destroy the ambience of the area. They let both CVS and Walgreens build two of their typically ugly stores set way back from the street. Period buildings west of Classen on NW 23rd are torn down to put in strip malls set back from the street. One of the buildings torn down to make way for Ugly Walgreens was one of the original Chicken on the Rough locations. It had great Route 66 ambience and the restaurant there, Jeff’s Country Kitchen, would have been perfectly located for the Route 66 crowd. I’d like to see this vision of Route 66 realized, but with OKC government, it is an uphill battle.

I may have dreamed it or foggy on the location but I could have sworn I saw a map/article/sign showing that Route 66th jogged much further south (like Capital Hill area) at some point. Even this map shows that it wasn’t always a “shortest distance between two points is a straight line” affair. Any collaboration?

Larry that is the very first I have heard of that. I wonder if it did it would have been as a stub or a spur type routing.

66 originally came down kelly, jogged over to lincoln, down to 23rd, out to classen, up to 39th, and then out west to where it presently takes up west of grand (i-44). there were various alternatives, but none south of 23rd street. one involved britton road (basically a business spur), another was to follow 23rd past classen to may, then north to 39th. there were other, interesting non-us66 routes, such as the “guthrie shortcut” on the east side of the county, but most have faded into oblivion (such as hogback road).

in the 50′s, a new proposal for 66 and 77 was constructed, giving birth to the northeast and northwest expressways. what had been us77 became us66 (northeast expressway from present I-44/ I-35 junction to turner turnpike), 77 ultimately was moved to what became the broadway extension, and 66 continued west from the i-44/35 junction along what is now i-44 to nw 39th expressway. this 4 lane facility (surely impressive when built) quickly became known as a deathtrap due to there being no access control combined with high traffic and highway speeds. the “i-35″ portion was the worst, but there were plenty of accidents at eastern and kelly, as well. the infamous classen circle (where the northeast and northwest expressways met) was the most hated and dangerous intersection in the entire city.

sadly, it was destroyed when the road was upgraded to interstate standards in 1977-80. many thought that it should have been saved for its historical significance, and with the traffic taken off of it in favor of the new belle isle bridge it might have worked, but memories of traffic hell were too strong.

side note: the reason highway 266 exists from henryetta to checotah (where it ends at the junction of us 64) is because it originally started at the state capitol as a connection between us 66 and us 64. however, when they decided to route us 62 through oklahoma city, the segment between the state capitol and henryetta was renamed us 62.

on the south side, us 270 connected oklahoma city to shawnee via se29th street. that connected with us 77 at robinson in capitol hill. us 277 split off from there, veering at newcastle road (now you know where that street gets its name!). it ultimately crossed the south canadian river where the old bridge still stands (i hope) next to the i-44 river crossing. what is confusing is that these old highways following what are now city streets can be difficult to interpret from our present day frame of reference.

David, interesting info. — thanks for posting.

Cool map. The black lines are streetcar lines, aren’t they?

Yep!

Really great photos and info. Love seeing old town and cars pictures, we have come a long way.