Oklahoma State Highway 51

State Highway 51 marker

State Highway 51
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Length: 332.8 mi (535.6 km)
Existed: 1 June 1927 – present
Major junctions
West end: US-60 at Texas state line
  I-35
I-244 in Tulsa
I-444 in Tulsa
I-44 in Tulsa
Muskogee Turnpike in Broken Arrow
East end: AR 244 at the Arkansas state line
Highway system
Oklahoma State Highway System
SH-50SH-52

State Highway 51, abbreviated to SH-51 or OK-51, is a major state highway in Oklahoma. It runs for 333 miles[1] (535½ km) eastwest across the state, running from the Texas state line to Arkansas. It is the third-longest state highway in the system.

Route description

Texas to I-35

SH-51 begins at the Texas line concurrent with US-60 just east of Higgins, Texas. It remains concurrent for 61 miles (98 km) until it reaches US-270/US-281/SH-3 at Seiling, Oklahoma. At Seiling, SH-51 joins with those three highways for nine miles (14 km) before splitting off on its own.

11 miles (18 km) after splitting off, Highway 51 meets SH-58 in Canton. It then continues east, crossing the North Canadian River and meeting SH-51A before turning northeast toward Okeene, where it intersects SH-8. SH-51 will go for 24 miles (39 km) before intersecting another highway.

SH-51 meets many different highways in Seiling.

In Hennessey SH-51 meets U.S. Highway 81 before continuing eastward. 17 miles (27 km) later, it meets SH-74 north of Crescent. 11 miles (17 km) to the east, it shares a brief concurrency with US-77; two miles (3 km) later it has an interchange at Interstate 35, milemarker 174.

I-35 to Tulsa

After crossing I-35, SH-51 becomes a multilane highway and a major corridor linking I-35 to Stillwater, the home of Oklahoma State University. Along this 13-mile (21 km) stretch is an intersection with State Highway 86. When Highway 51 reaches Stillwater, it meets US-177.

Continuing east from Stillwater, the road returns to a two-lane highway after sharing a one-mile (1.6 km) concurrency with SH-108 and intersects with SH-18 eight miles (12.8 km) later. Four miles east of this, it passes through Yale, Oklahoma before crossing SH-99. It becomes a multilane highway again after a brief concurrency with SH-48. It passes through the small towns of Mannford and Lotsee on its way toward the Tulsa area.

Tulsa and beyond

In Sand Springs, SH-51 crosses the Arkansas River with SH-97 before merging onto the Sand Springs Expressway (U.S. Highway 412/U.S. Highway 64). When this freeway ends at I-244 near downtown Tulsa, Highway 51 merges onto I-244 southbound only to exit one mile (1.6 km) later, where it overlaps US-64/US-75. This freeway is actually Interstate 444, but the interstate designation is not shown on signs. After one more mile, SH-51 leaves the interstate with US-64 and becomes the Broken Arrow Expressway, a freeway running northwest-southeast through Tulsa which is known as "The BA" by locals and local media. US-64 leaves the freeway as a concurrency with US-169 southbound. Later, SH-51 will exit the freeway and become a four-lane highway toward Coweta. The mainline freeway becomes the Muskogee Turnpike.

At Coweta, SH-51 turns back east after heading southeast through the Tulsa area. After crossing the Muskogee Turnpike again and bridging the Verdigris River the highway soon enters Wagoner, where it junctions with US-69. Returning once again to a 2-lane road, Highway 51 crosses Ft. Gibson Lake and the town of Hulbert. 11 miles (18 km) later, it passes through Tahlequah, where it has a brief concurrency with US-62/SH-10. After spitting with these highways, it heads southeast toward Stilwell, Oklahoma, overlapping Route 59 for a mile on the way. After leaving Stilwell it provides access to Adair State Park, and then crosses the Arkansas line becoming Highway 244, which quickly connects to Highway 59.

History

SH-51 was originally commissioned on June 1, 1927 as a connector from Stilwell to Eldon at SH-27 (present-day US-62).[2] By 1928, it had been extended to Tulsa.[3] On June 15, 1933, it was extended to the east to the Arkansas state line, where it became AR-45.[2]

ODOT extended SH-51 west to Stillwater and Perry (via a segment of roadway currently serving as US-177).[2][4] On March 18, 1935, the section from Stillwater to Perry was rescinded and SH-51 was extended to SH-8 at Okeene.[2][5] It was then extended to Seiling on October 18, 1938. On March 23, 1943, it was extended to the Texas state line by a concurrency with US-60.[2][6]

The Broken Arrow Expressway was built in the early 1960s[7] and opened in 1964.[2] It was not, however, officially named the Broken Arrow Expressway until July 6, 1999 [8] by H.B. 1455.

The steel truss bridge carrying SH-51 across Stillwater Creek west of Stillwater, once considered the gateway into the city, was removed on March 25, 2008. In a first for the state of Oklahoma, the bridge, originally built in 1936, was sold to Payne County for $200,000 and transferred to a county road east of Stillwater, where it was installed over Council Creek.[9]

Spurs

Like many in the Oklahoma state highway system, SH-51 has short spurs branching from it that bear the "51" number with a lettered suffix:

Junction list

CountyLocationmi[1]kmDestinationsNotes
Ellis0.00.0 US-60 west CanadianTexas state line; western terminus
6.710.8 US-283 north ShattuckWest end of US 283 overlap
Arnett12.720.4 SH-46 northSouthern terminus of SH-46
13.722.0 US-283 south CheyenneEast end of US 283 overlap
DeweyVici39.663.7 SH-34 north WoodwardWest end of SH-34 overlap
40.565.2 SH-34 south HammonEast end of SH-34 overlap
58.894.6 US-183 Woodward, Taloga
Seiling60.697.5 US-60 east / US-270 west / US-281 north / SH-3 west Woodward, ChesterWest end of US-270/281/SH-3 overlap; east end of US-60 overlap
Hucmac69.0111.0 US-270 east / US-281 south / SH-3 east WatongaEast end of US-280/281/SH-3 overlap
BlaineCanton81.2130.7 SH-58A north Canton LakeSouthern terminus of SH-58A
82.0132.0 SH-58 south Eagle CityWest end of SH-58 overlap
83.0133.6 SH-58 north FairviewEast end of SH-58 overlap
Southard88.1141.8 SH-51A Fairview, Watonga
Okeene98.9159.2 SH-8 Fairview, Watonga
KingfisherLacey115.1185.2 SH-132 north EnidSouthern terminus of SH-132
Hennessey122.6197.3 US-81 Enid, Kingfisher
Logan138.1222.3 SH-74E north MarshallSouthern terminus of SH-74E
140.1225.5 SH-74 Covington, Crescent
151.0243.0 US-77 north PerryWest end of US-77 overlap
151.3243.5 US-77 south GuthrieEast end of US-77 overlap
Payne153.8247.5 I-35 Wichita, Oklahoma CityKnown as 6th Ave (I-35) - (SH-18) junctions; I-35 exit 174
157.3253.1 SH-86 north PerrySouthern terminus of SH-86
162.0260.7Road to Lake Carl BlackwellFormer southern terminus of SH-51C
Stillwater170.4274.2 US-177 Ponca City, Perkins
177.8286.1 SH-108 north GlencoeWest end of SH-108 overlap
178.8287.8 SH-108 south RipleyEast end of SH-108 overlap
186.8300.6 SH-18 Pawnee, Cushing
Creek197.6318.0 SH-99 Jennings, Oilton
208.2335.1 SH-48 Cleveland, Bristow
215.1346.2 SH-151 northInterchange; southern terminus of SH-151
TulsaSand Springs224.3361.0 SH-97 south SapulpaWest end of SH-97 overlap
225.5362.9 US-64 west / US-412 west / SH-97 northEast end of SH-97 overlap; west end of US-64/412 overlap; west end of freeway
South 81st West Avenue
South 65th West Avenue
TulsaNorth 49th West Avenue
North 33rd West AvenueWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
Gilcrease Museum Road, South 25th West Avenue
Quanah AvenueEastbound exit and westbound entrance
232.1373.5 I-244 east / US-412 east (Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Expressway) / L.L. Tisdale Parkway Tulsa International AirportEast end of US-412 overlap; west end of I-244 overlap; I-244 exits 5B-C
2nd StreetEastbound exit and westbound entrance; I-244 exit 5A
232.9374.8 I-244 west / US-75 south (Red Fork Expressway) Oklahoma CityEast end of I-244 overlap; west end of I-444/US-75 overlap; I-244 exit 4B
Houston Avenue, Southwest Boulevard, 30th StreetWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
Denver Avenue
Detroit AvenueWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
234.3377.1 I-444 east / US-75 north (Cherokee Expressway) BartlesvilleEast end of I-444/US-75 overlap
Utica Avenue
Lewis AvenueNo westbound exit
East 15th StreetNo eastbound exit
East 21st Street
Harvard Avenue
East 31st Street, Yale Avenue
Sheridan Road
239.6385.6 I-44 / SH-66 (Skelly Drive) Joplin, Oklahoma CityI-44 exit 231
Memorial Drive
East 41st Street, Mingo RoadNo westbound exit
242.0389.5 US-64 east / US-169 (Mingo Valley Expressway) Nowata, BixbyEast end of US-64 overlap
Garret Road
East 51st Street SouthEastbound exit and westbound entrance
South 129th East AvenueWestbound exit and eastbound entrance
Broken ArrowSouth 145th East Avenue
Elm Place
South 177th East AvenueNo eastbound entrance
Kenosha Street
248.8400.4 Muskogee Turnpike east to Creek Turnpike MuskogeeEast end of freeway; no eastbound entrance; Muskogee Turnpike exit 1
WagonerCoweta258.0415.2 SH-72 south HaskellNorthern terminus of SH-72
261.5420.8 Muskogee Turnpike Tulsa, MuskogeeMuskogee Turnpike exit 13
Wagoner272.6438.7 US-69 Chouteau, Muskogee
275.1442.7 SH-16 southNorthern terminus of SH-16
CherokeeHulbert288.4464.1 SH-80 westEastern terminus of SH-80
Tahlequah300.7483.9 US-62 west / SH-10 south / SH-82 south Muskogee, VianWest end of US-62/SH-10/82 overlap
303.0487.6 SH-82 north Locust GroveEast end of SH-82 overlap
305.0490.8 SH-10 north KansasEast end of SH-10 overlap
Eldon310.7500.0 US-62 east WestvilleEast end of US-62 overlap
AdairStilwell324.8522.7 US-59 north WestvilleWest end of US-59 overlap
325.7524.2 US-59 south SallisawEast end of US-59 overlap
332.8535.6 AR 244Arkansas state line; eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. 1 2 Stuve, Eric. "OK-51". OKHighways.com. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Planning & Research Division. "Memorial Dedication & Revision History - SH-51". Retrieved 2007-02-19.
  3. Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 1928 Highway Map.
  4. Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 1935 Highway Map.
  5. Oklahoma Department of Transportation 1937 Highway Map
  6. Oklahoma Highway Commission (1943-03-23). "Minutes—Dewey & Ellis Counties, Extension of SH #51" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-09-05.
  7. The City of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. "Our History". Archived from the original on 2007-04-05. Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  8. Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Planning & Research Division. "Oklahoma's Memorial Highways and Bridges". Retrieved 2007-04-11.
  9. Sutter, John David (2008-03-26). "One hefty recycling endeavor".
  10. Oklahoma Department of Transportation map, Average Daily Traffic Volume, Tulsa inset, 1977.
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