US 64: Tulsa's redheaded stepchild

[bugo]

From my No-Frills Blog at http://bugo348.blogspot.com/.

US 64 takes an unusual trek through the Tulsa metro. Most of the highway is duplexed with other roads, and the other roads are considered the dominant road. US 64 and 412 merge at the end of the Cimmaron Turnpike. This road is locally known as either "412" or "Keystone Expressway". In downtown Tulsa along the Inner Dispersal Loop, US 64 piggybacks I-244 for a short distance then piggybacks hidden I-444 and US 75. Then it heads east along a highway that is locally known as "The BA" or Broken Arrow Expressway and sometimes "Highway 51" but rarely "64."  The entire stretch of the US 64/OK 51 piggyback has OK 51 as the primary number. The control section map of this area confirms this:



It also confirms that 169 is the main number on the 169/64 overlap. After leaving OK 51, US 64 follows US 169 south. This highway is known locally as "169". Nobody calls it 64. Ever. Even the US 169 signs are placed above the US 64 signs on trailblazer assemblies. Once US 169 ends and US 64 heads south, you would think it would finally get its own identity. You'd be wrong! Because US 64 through Bixby is locally known as "Memorial." US 64 doesn't get its identity back until you get past the Leonard Curve on the south side of Bixby. Poor US 64. It doesn't get the respect it deserves.

[xonhulu]

I think it's dissed worse in Arizona, where it ends on 3-digit US 160, even though the intersection and usual route priority would suggest US 64 continue west.  That is, if you can actually disrespect an inanimate concept like a highway route . . .

[agentsteel53]

I think it's dissed worse in Arizona, where it ends on 3-digit US 160, even though the intersection and usual route priority would suggest US 64 continue west.  That is, if you can actually disrespect an inanimate concept like a highway route . . .

there's always a set of "your parent route" insults that you can use on it ...

[TheStranger]

I'm curious as to why US 64 has the indirect routing to Haskell (via US 169 and Memorial), instead of the more direct path along SH-51 and SH-72...

[bugo]

I'm curious as to why US 64 has the indirect routing to Haskell (via US 169 and Memorial), instead of the more direct path along SH-51 and SH-72...

Because of the Arkansas River.  The road that is now OK 72 wasn't on the state highway system in 1926.  I'm guessing there was no bridge there at the time.  There's been no reason to change it.

A possible rerouting of US 64 could follow OK 67 from Bixby Kiefer, then US 75A from Kiefer to Sapulpa, and OK 97 from Sapulpa to Sand Springs.  This would bypass Tulsa but it would be faster to take the current US 64 routing.  But as I said, there's no reason to change it. 

I believe US 169 should be extended south across the Arkansas River as a freeway that would end east of the Leonard Curve.  Memorial/US 64 between the Creek Turnpike and south of Bixby is awful during peak traffic.  This freeway could be extended to meet US 75 somewhere between Tulsa and Okmulgee or even towards Muskogee.

[rte66man]

I suspect US64 is routed where it is today because of the incremental changes to the route.  Originally, it came into Tulsa from Sand Springs on Charles Page Blvd, thru downtown, out east on 15th Street to Harvard, south on Harvard to 51st, east on 51st to Memorial, then south thru Bixby.  The first part of the BA was opened in about 1964 from 21st St to Sheridan. Shortly thereafter it was opened to Memorial. At that time, 64 was rerouted to go on the BA from Harvard to Memorial.  Incremental changes were made as various parts of the BA were opened. IT wasn't until the Crekk Extension to 169 was opened that 64 was routed off of Memorial betweenthe BA and 96th St.

Can't see any freeway coming south parallel to Memorial due to the development. Way too costly.  Also, there was a very old bridge on OK72 across the Arkansas in the late 70's.  I used to cross it to get from Bixby to Coweta.  I see it was replaced awhile ago:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Coweta,+OK&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.957999,56.337891&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Coweta,+Wagoner,+Oklahoma&ll=35.919657,-95.65871&spn=0.008984,0.013754&t=k&z=16

It was just to the left of the current bridge.