Oklahoma State Highway 8

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State Highway 8
Maintained by ODOT
Length: 179.2 mi (288 km)
South end: U.S. Highway 277/SH-19 in Cyril, Oklahoma
North end: K-8 at the Kansas state line
Oklahoma State Highways
< SH-7 SH-9 >

State Highway 8, also abbreviated as SH-8 or OK-8, is a highway maintained by the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Because it runs mainly north-south, it has an even number (which is normal for Oklahoma state highways, but opposite from national highways). Highway 8 runs from U.S. Highway 277 in Cyril, Oklahoma to the state line south of Kiowa, Kansas, for a total length of 179.2 miles[1] (288.4 km).

Contents

[edit] Route description

The highway begins in Cyril, at US-277 (which at the time is concurrent with State Highway 19), and immediately heads northward. Fourteen miles later, the highway passes through Anadarko, sharing a brief overlap with US-62/SH-9. It also becomes concurrent with US-281 here, which it remains concurrent with after passing through Anadarko.

US-270, US-281, and SH-8 in Watonga, looking southbound.
US-270, US-281, and SH-8 in Watonga, looking southbound.

US-281 and SH-8 continue northward to meet SH-152, which they overlap for 5 miles (8 km). SH-152 splits off to the west at Binger, and US-281/SH-8 go northward through Lookeba to meet SH-37 at its western terminus in Hinton. Four miles to the north, the two highways have an interchange with Interstate 40 at milemarker 101. After this US-281/SH-8 cross the Canadian River and begin a concurrency with U.S. Highway 270 in Geary. SH-8 splits off by itself after passing through Watonga, 16 miles to the north.

North of Watonga, SH-8 generally runs parallel to SH-51A and, after intersecting SH-51 in Okeene, it runs parallel to SH-58. 11 miles north of Okeene, SH-58 and SH-8 switch places (through a 9-mile concurrency), with SH-8 ending up running to the west through Fairview and SH-58 running to the east to Ringwood, Oklahoma.

After swapping places with SH-58, Highway 8 continues north, overlapping US-60 for 9 miles (14½ km), spending the last 3 miles (4.8 km) also signed concurrently with US-412. Eleven miles north of this, SH-8 has a 3-mile concurrency with SH-45 southeast of Carmen. Through Cherokee, the Alfalfa County seat, it overlaps U.S. Highway 64 and SH-58. After US-64 splits off to the west SH-11 joins the concurrency.

After six miles, SH-58 splits off to the northeast. SH-11 and SH-8 remain overlapped for seven more miles before splitting off to the north. SH-8 ends seven miles to the north of this at the Kansas state line. After crossing the state line, it becomes K-8, which soon ends at K-2 in Kiowa, Kansas.

[edit] History

SH-8 was one of the original thirty-one state highways created on 1924-08-24.[2] When it was created, SH-8 was a border-to-border highway, stretching from Texas to Kansas. It began at the Red River near Burkburnett, Texas. It then passed through Randlett and had a short concurrency with SH-5 west of Walters. SH-8 then ran through Lawton—concurring with the original SH-29—en route to Anadarko via Apache. In Anadarko, SH-8 linked up with the present highway. The remainder of the route was mostly the same as it is today.[3]

In November 1926, AASHTO officially approved the United States Numbered Highways system. The Oklahoma Transportation Commission applied the national highways to Oklahoma's state highway system on 1926-11-26. Three U.S. highways were assigned to portions of what was then SH-8: U.S. Highway 64 was added to a segment of highway south of Cherokee, U.S. Highway 66 was added between Bridgeport and Geary, and U.S. Highway 70 was added from the Texas state line to Randlett.[2] US-66 and and 64 merely ran concurrently with SH-8. However, US-70 completely replaced the state highway, which was truncated so that its southern terminus was at US-70 in Randlett.[4]

By 1936, several U.S. highways had been added to the system that took over parts of State Highway 8's route. US-62, added in 1930, took over the Lawton–Anadarko portion of the road. US-277 took over much of the remaining route between Randlett and Lawton. In addition, a US-70N had been created that overlaid US-277 between Randlett and the split with SH-5 west of Walters.[5] These changes to the U.S. route system precipitated the truncation of SH-8 in 1936. On 1936-03-13, SH-8 between Anadarko and the state line was dropped. However, a new road between Anadarko and Cyril had been built; this became part of SH-8 and set the highway's southern terminus at its present location.[2]

By the end of 1937, however, the highway's southern terminus had changed once again. On 1937-10-19, SH-8 had been truncated to Anadarko.[2][6] However, on 1938-10-18, the route was extended back to the former southern terminus at Randlett;[2] this change did not appear on the state map until the April 1941 edition. On 1941-04-14, the route was realigned to run through Cyril once again.[2]

On 1955-09-12, SH-8 underwent a small realignment.[2] Previously, the highway went due north from Carmen, then turned due east, running through Lambert before connecting to US-64 south of Cherokee.[7] As a result of the 1955 realignment, SH-8 cut northeast to connect to US-64 directly, bypassing Lambert.[8]

All of SH-8 between Randlett and Cyril was once again dropped on 1966-05-09[2], restoring the route to its current southern terminus at US-277/SH-19 in Cyril. No major changes to SH-8 have occurred since 1966.

[edit] Junction list

County Location Mile[1] Roads intersected Notes
Caddo Cyril 0.0 US-277/SH-19  
Anadarko 13.0 US-62/SH-9  
13.6 US-62/281/SH-9  
  29.2 SH-152  
Binger 33.9 SH-152  
Hinton 46.1 SH-37 Western terminus of SH-37
  50.1 I-40 Diamond interchange
Canadian   53.3
US-281 SPUR		 Northern terminus of US-281 SPUR
Blaine Geary 59.0 US-270  
Watonga 76.0 US-270/281/SH-3/33 SH-3 and SH-33 do not concur
  77.0 SH-51A Southern terminus of SH-51A
  80.3 SH-8A Southern terminus of SH-8A
Okeene 99.5 SH-51  
Major   110.5 SH-58  
Fairview 119.5 US-60/SH-58  
Orienta 125.4 US-412  
Cleo Springs 128.4 US-60/412  
Alfalfa   136.7 SH-8B Eastern terminus of SH-8B
  138.7 SH-45  
  141.7 SH-45  
  149.1 US-64/SH-58  
Ingersoll 158.2 US-64/SH-11  
Driftwood 165.2 SH-58  
  172.2 SH-11  
  179.2 K-8 Northern terminus; Kansas state line

[edit] Spurs

  • SH-8A runs from SH-8 to SH-51A, north of Watonga. Along the way, it provides access to Roman Nose State Park.[1]
  • A former SH-8A connected the highway to the town of Geronimo. When SH-8 was truncated to Cyril in 1966, it became SH-281A.
  • SH-8B is a spur route from SH-8 to Aline.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Stuve, Eric. OK-8. OKHighways. Retrieved on 2006-03-10.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oklahoma Department of Transportation, Planning & Research Division. Memorial Dedication & Revision History - SH-8. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  3. ^ Oklahoma State Highway Department. Oklahoma State Highway System [map], 1925 edition. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  4. ^ Oklahoma State Highway Department. Oklahoma State Highway System [map], 1927 edition. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  5. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Map Showing Condition of Improvement of the State Highway System [map], April 1937 edition. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  6. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Map Showing Condition of Improvement of the State Highway System [map], April 1938 edition. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
  7. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Highways of Oklahoma [map]. (1954) Retrieved on 2008-05-24.
  8. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Oklahoma's Highways 1956 [map]. Retrieved on 2008-05-24.

[edit] External links