Interstate 240 (Oklahoma)

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Interstate 240
Secondary route of the Interstate Highway System
Length: 16.22 mi (26.1 km)
Formed: 1965[1]
East end: I-44 in Oklahoma City
Major
junctions:		 I-35

OK-77H (Sooner Rd.)
West end: I-40 in Oklahoma City
(eastbound access only)

Interstate 240 (abbreviated I-240) is an interstate highway in Oklahoma that runs 16.22 miles (26.1 km) west from Interstate 40 to Interstate 44 in southern Oklahoma City. After its terminus in southwest Oklahoma City, the main I-240 roadbed becomes Interstate 44 and Airport Road toward Will Rogers World Airport.

The section between I-35 and current I-44 was already complete in 1965. A loop along current I-44 up to OK 66, then east to I-35 again, was a planned extension of I-240, for a total of 31.76 miles or 51.1 km. However, this was rejected in favor of the current designation.

Major destinations along the route include Crossroads Mall, Tinker Air Force Base, and the heavily populated Southside of Oklahoma City.

Contents

[edit] History

When the route was established, I-240 ran from its current eastern terminus around the city, turning north at the present interchange with I-44, continuing on the present course of I-44. (Interstate 44 ended near Edmond at the western end of the Turner Turnpike.) I-240 thus nearly created a loop around the city, intersecting both I-35 and I-40 twice.

As part of Oklahoma's 75th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee) celebrations in 1982, ODOT extended I-44 to Lawton and Wichita Falls, Texas along the H.E. Bailey Turnpike. This caused I-240 to be truncated to its current western terminus near Will Rogers World Airport.[2]

[edit] Notes

  • The first section of I-240 to be built, the segment west of I-35, is the busier of the two sections, serving the Southside area of Oklahoma City and the airport. The other eastbound section exists primarily to serve the now-closed General Motors plant and Tinker Air Force Base. This section is much less traveled, having only four lanes (two in each direction) for much of its length.
  • The western, busy half of I-240 has a configuration of ramps that causes much weaving and many accidents. An entrance ramp will merge onto the highway, forming a new lane. This new lane will then become an Exit Only lane for the next exit. However, the exits are not spaced very far apart, causing entering and exiting traffic to conflict. (For a satellite photo, see [1].)
  • Signs were installed in October 2004 designating the western half of I-240 as the Keith Leftwich Memorial Loop, in honor of a state senator who died recently.[3]
  • I-240's service road is named S.E. 74th Street.
  • The interstate is duplexed with OK-3, the longest Oklahoma state highway, for its entire length.
  • At I-240's eastern terminus with I-40, motorists traveling eastbound on I-240 are forced to merge onto I-40 eastbound - there is no I-40 West off-ramp. (Those wishing to take I-40 West must exit off of I-240 a mile earlier at Anderson Road, a surface street, and travel on it northbound until they reach I-40.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Oglesby, Scott. 3-digit Interstates from I-35. Kurumi. URL accessed 29 January 2005.
  2. ^ "I-240 Section Changing to I-44." The Daily Oklahoman 9 October 1982.
  3. ^ Stuve, Eric. Interstate 240. OKHighways. URL accessed 8 March 2006.

[edit] External links

Browse numbered routes
< I-235 OK I-244 >
Auxiliary routes of Interstate 40
I-140 Tennessee - North Carolina
I-240 Tennessee - North Carolina - Oklahoma
I-440 Tennessee - North Carolina - Arkansas
I-540 Arkansas - North Carolina
I-640 Tennessee
I-840 North Carolina
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