Mother Road Replay

Oklahoma might offer Route 66 travelers the most immersive experience.

Tourists traveling the Mother Road through the Sooner State need only remember three words: Last Free Exit. That’s because Oklahoma’s best Route 66 experience isn’t in a museum or roadside café. It’s on the road itself.

Signs along the interstate make it pretty obvious the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority wants everyone to take the toll road. But now might be a good time, as America celebrates the Route 66 centennial, to flaunt one of our state’s most overlooked historical assets: State Highway 66.

Oklahoma makes it easy to explore the Mother Road, especially in the northeastern part of the state. When the federal government decommissioned US-66 in 1985, the Oklahoma DOT then designated it as a state highway. They simply replaced the U.S. Highway signs with OK-66. Through cities, like Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the state highway merges with I-44. Otherwise most of the route from the Kansas line through Oklahoma City to El Reno is just as it was in 1985.

Why Does it Matter?
Highway nerds love to seek out old paths the highway used to follow, sometimes called alignments. Especially the original 1926 alignment. The now-familiar “historic route” signs usually direct Interstate travelers off the Super Slab to explore these special segments of Route 66. In many states these detours are relatively short, some only a few miles long, and diverge off the Interstate just long enough to pass through some small town the highway bypassed decades ago. Then, within a few miles you’re back on the four-lane.

But in Eastern Oklahoma you can escape the Interstate altogether and follow the State Highway 66 signs for miles and miles. You’ll be passing through the towns and cruising the Main Streets that have always been a part of Mother Road. You’ll still see those brown signs– but now they’re directing you to historic alignments- sometimes even the original 1926 route!

In 1926 Oklahoma was home to over 400 miles of the Mother Road, second only to New Mexico. But today the Sooner State boasts the most drivable miles of the old road. It’s like one massive museum– and you don’t even have to buy a ticket!

Enjoy the ride.