U.S. Route 62 in Oklahoma

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U.S. Highway 62
Length:	402.48 mi[1] (647.73 km)
West end:	U.S. 62 west of Hollis
North end:	U.S. 62 east of Westville
Oklahoma State Highways < US-60 SH-63 >
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In Oklahoma, U.S. Highway 62 runs diagonally across the state, from the Texas state line in far southwestern Oklahoma to the Arkansas state line near Fayetteville. US-62 spends a total of 402.48 miles (647.73 km)^[1] in the Sooner State. Along the way the route serves two of Oklahoma's largest cities, Lawton and Oklahoma City, as well as many regionally important cities, like Altus, Chickasha, Muskogee, and Tahlequah. Despite this, US-62 has no lettered spur routes like many other U.S. routes in Oklahoma do.

Contents 1 Route description 1.1 Southwestern Oklahoma 1.2 Central Oklahoma 1.3 Green Country 2 History 2.1 Oklahoma City routing 3 Junction list 4 References

[edit] Route description

[edit] Southwestern Oklahoma

US-62 enters Oklahoma in Harmon County, 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Hollis.^[2] It then passes through that town, the county seat, where it serves as the southern terminus of State Highway 30. US-62 meets the northern terminus of SH-5 in Gould. The highway passes through unincorporated McQueen 4 miles (6.4 km)^[2] and then enters Jackson County. Just east of Duke, the route crosses SH-34. Nine miles (14.5 km) later, US-62 becomes a multilane highway and begins a concurrency with SH-6. The two highways travel together into Altus, where they intersect US-283. SH-6 follows US-283 northward out of town, while US-62 heads east towards Headrick. US-62 runs just north of that town before crossing the North Fork of the Red River onto the Kiowa–Tillman County line.

US-62 continues eastward, sending US-62 BUS north to Snyder. The county line then turns south of US-62, and the route has an interchange with US-183. US-62 then heads farther east, meeting the other end of US-62 BUS 3 miles (4.8 km) later. US-62 serves as the southern terminus of the northern State Highway 54 3 miles (4.8 km) east of this. The road then enters Comanche County, where it serves as the southern border of Fort Sill. It serves as the southern terminus of another Oklahoma state highway, SH-115, near Cache. A few miles of the highway east of SH-115 is freeway-grade. US-62 then serves the north side of Lawton (along with several Ft. Sill gates) as Cache Road. In eastern Lawton, the highway has an interchange with Interstate 44 and begins a concurrency with it (joining at Exit 40B), along with US-277 and US-281.

I-44/US-62/277/281 head northward through Fort Sill. At Exit 45, the freeway serves as the eastern terminus of State Highway 49. The three U.S. routes split off at Exit 46, with I-44 continuing onto the northern section of the H. E. Bailey Turnpike. US-277 splits off to the east 5 miles (8.0 km) later. US-62/281 then meet SH-19 in Apache. SH-9 begins overlapping the two U.S. routes 10 miles (16 km) north of Apache. The three routes then continue into Anadarko, where State Highway 8 briefly joins the concurrency. US-283 and SH-8 then split off to the north, while US-62/SH-9 head out of town to the east.

[edit] Central Oklahoma

US-62/SH-9 cross into Grady County just west of Verden. At the western limits of Chickasha, US-81 joins the concurrency. In downtown Chickasha, US-81 splits off to the south, and US-277 once again joins with US-62. In far eastern Chickasha, the routes have an interchange with I-44 (the H.E. Bailey Turnpike). US-62/277/SH-9 serve as the southern terminus of SH-92 and the western terminus of SH-39. The three highways then angle northeast towards Blanchard, where they are briefly joined by State Highway 76. Northeast of Blanchard, they are carried by an expressway. SH-9 splits off at a diamond interchange that also serves as the eastern terminus of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur. The two U.S. routes continue north into Newcastle, running through town on a five-lane (two lanes in each direction plus center turn lane) alignment. On the northern rim of Blanchard, the two routes encounter I-44 once again, at the northern terminus of the Bailey Turnpike. US-62 joins eastbound I-44 toward Oklahoma City, while US-277 terminates at the interchange.

I-44/US-62 pick up State Highway 37 at Exit 107, and the three highways cross the Canadian River into Cleveland County and Oklahoma City. SH-37 then splits off at Exit 110. Just north of the Oklahoma County line, I-44 has an interchange at the western terminus of Interstate 240 at Exit 115, and US-62 follows it east to Exit 4B, where it begins to concur with I-35/US-77. I-35/US-62/77 head northward to the Fort Smith Junction. US-77 splits off to join with Interstate 235, while I-35/US-77 join with eastbound I-40/US-270. I-35/US-62 split off to the north after just over a mile. US-62 then returns to an at-grade street, N.E. 23rd St., leaving I-35 at Exit 130.

US-62 serves some of Oklahoma City's eastern suburbs, including far northern Midwest City, far southern Spencer, Nicoma Park, and Choctaw. In eastern Harrah, the route meets the west terminus of State Highway 270. The highway then crosses into far southern Lincoln County, where it crosses SH-120 at Midway. US-62 then runs through two more unincorporated communities, Fowler and Jacktown; the latter is the site of the US-62/US-177 junction. US-62 enters Meeker 6 miles (9.7 km)^[2] later, where it meets up with SH-18. 12 miles (19 km)^[2] further east, in Prague, it encounters US-377/SH-99.

[edit] Green Country

US-62 then enters eastern Oklahoma's Green Country, crossing into Okfuskee County west of Paden. It begins to turn southeast, intersecting State Highway 48 west of Castle, before joining once again with I-40 near Okemah, at Exit 221. US-75 also joins the interstate, 10 miles (16 km) farther east at Exit 231. The two U.S. routes split off at Exit 240B, where they continue the mainline of the Indian Nation Turnpike, which terminates at I-40. The two U.S. routes serve eastern Henryetta, and west of Dewar, they are the western terminus of U.S. Highway 266. In Okmulgee, US-62 turns east while US-75 continues north toward the Tulsa area. US-62 heads through Morris, where it intersects SH-52. The highway then has a 9 miles (14 km)^[2] overlap with SH-72, after which it begins a concurrency with US-64.

US-62/64 split up in Muskogee, where US-62 briefly shares pavement with US-69, On the east side of town, it has an interchange with the Muskogee Turnpike/SH-165 freeway. Near Ft. Gibson, US-62 begins to concur with State Highway 10, and the two routes stay joined through Tahlequah. US-62 starts to overlap State Highway 51 in Tahlequah as well; the two highways split up near Eldon. The route then enters Adair County near Proctor. It intersects with US-59 in Westville before US-62 crosses the state line into Arkansas.

[edit] History

When US-62 was added to the system in 1930,^[3] it had the same basic routing as it did today.^[4]

[edit] Oklahoma City routing

On 1950-03-06, US-62 was rerouted through Oklahoma City.^[5] US-62 followed Newcastle Boulevard into the city and turned eastbound onto S.E. 29th Street, which it followed to Robinson Avenue. It then turned north onto Robinson, which was also US-77, towards downtown. Through downtown, US-62 followed Robinson, while US-77 paralleled it one block to the east on Broadway. At N.E. 23rd Street, US-62 turned east, concurring with US-270, US-66 CITY, and the second State Highway 1. US-77 also ran along 23rd Street from Broadway to Lincoln Boulevard, where it split off to the north, along with US-66 CITY. US-62/270/SH-1 then continued along 23rd Street to Spencer.^[6]

US-62 was realigned once again on 1955-04-06.^[5]

US-62 was realigned for a third time on 1961-09-04. This routing was only meant to be temporary, following Agnew, Exchange, and Reno Avenues to downtown.^[5]. This change was followed up by the 1963-09-04^[5] rerouting, which put US-62 onto its present-day routing (though I-240 did not exist yet, and I-44 still ended at I-35.^[7]

[edit] Junction list

County	Location	Mile[8]	Roads intersected	Notes
Harmon		0.0	US 62	Texas state line
	Hollis	5.0	SH-30	Southern terminus of SH-30
	Gould	13.3	SH-5	Northern terminus of SH-5
Jackson	Duke	25.4	SH-34
		33.9	SH-6
	Altus	38.9	US-283
		38.9	SH-6
Kiowa		56.3	US-62 BUS
	Snyder	59.9	US-183	Diamond interchange
		63.2	US-62 BUS
		65.8	SH-54	Southern terminus of SH-54
Comanche	Cache		SH-115	Diamond interchange, southern terminus of SH-115
	Lawton	94.0	I-44/US-277/US-281	Interchange
	Ft. Sill	99.6	SH-49 – Medicine Park, Carnegie	Diamond interchange (I-44 exit 45), eastern terminus of SH-49
		100.6	I-44	Interchange (I-44 exit 46)
	Richards Spur	105.0	US-277
Caddo	Apache	113.9	SH-19
		114.4	SH-19
		124.6	SH-9
	Anadarko	133.0	US-281/SH-8
		133.5	SH-8
Grady	Chickasha	149.3	US-81
		151.1	US-81/277
		152.6	I-44/H.E. Bailey Turnpike	Diamond interchange
		154.3	SH-92	Southern terminus of SH-92
	Tabler	157.6	SH-39	Western terminus of SH-39
McClain	Blanchard	169.1	SH-76
		170.1	SH-76
	Newcastle	174.8	SH-9/H.E. Bailey Norman Spur	Diamond interchange
		179.3	SH-130	Eastern terminus of SH-130
		181.9	I-44	U.S. 277 ends
		183.6	SH-37 west – Tuttle, Minco	I-44 exit 107
Cleveland	Oklahoma City	186.4	SH-37 east – Moore	I-44 exit 110
Oklahoma		190.8	I-44/I-240/SH-3	Western terminus of I-240, I-44 exit 115
		195.4	I-35/I-240/US-77/SH-3
		200.4	I-40/I-235/US-77/US-270	Southern terminus of I-235
		201.1	I-40/US-270
		203.7	I-35
	Harrah	220.8	SH-270	Western terminus of SH-270
Lincoln	Midway	225.4	SH-102
	Jacktown	230.7	US-177
	Meeker	236.8	SH-18
	Prague	248.9	US-377/SH-99
Okfuskee		266.8	SH-48
	Okemah	272.6	SH-27/56	Northern terminus of SH-27
		272.8	SH-56
		273.4	I-40/SH-27
	Pharaoh	283.5	US-75 south – Wetumka	I-40 exit 231
Okmulgee	Henryetta	289.5	US-62 BUS/US-75 BUS
		292.1	Indian Nation Turnpike	Northern terminus of turnpike
		292.3	I-40
		293.2	US-62 BUS/US-75 BUS
		294.5	US-266	Western terminus of US-266
	Okmulgee	305.3	US-75
		307.0	SH-56 LOOP	Eastern terminus of SH-56
	Morris	311.0	SH-52	Northern terminus of SH-52
Muskogee		322.4	SH-72
		331.5	US-64/SH-16/SH-72
		336.5	SH-162	Southern terminus of SH-162
	Muskogee	345.3	US-64/69/62 BUS/64 BUS
		346.3	US-69
		349.8	SH-16
		351.5	Muskogee Turnpike/SH-165	Southern terminus of Muskogee Tpk, northern terminus of SH-165
		353.8	SH-10
	Ft. Gibson	355.6	SH-80	Southern terminus of SH-80
Cherokee	Park Hill	372.2	SH-82
	Tahlequah	374.3	SH-51
		376.7	SH-82
		378.6	SH-10
	Eldon	384.3	SH-51
Adair	Westville	403.1	US-59
		402.5	US 62	Arkansas state line

[edit] References