These maps were taken from https://archive.org/stream/B-001-002-604#page/n0/mode/2up
Here are a couple of my favorites. The first one shows the quadplex of I-44, US 66, US 169 and OK 33. It also shows US 64 on Memorial, I-444 and western stretch of the BA under construction, US 64/OK 51 hop off of the freeway and follow 15th Street for a mile and a half. The actual Broken Arrow Expressway was actually complete all the way to Lewis Avenue but the northernmost section was not signed as US 64/OK 51. US 169 ended at US 75 after overlapping I-44. The Mingo Valley Expressway from I-44 to 51st Street is shown as under construction. OK 33 once ended at the Arkansas line in West Siloam Springs but was truncated back to downtown Sapulpa at Alt US 75 and OK 97. What was once OK 33 from Chouteau to Flint is now Alt US 412 and mainline US 412 follows the Cherokee Turnpike through this stretch. Alt US 412 is a dangerous highway. There are also several sections of old OK 33 between Tulsa and Chouteau, including a 13 mile stretch of uninterrupted highway.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/835/43339336382_942aa4bd96.jpg)
Until 1982, I-44 ended at the end of the Turner Turnpike at I-35. What is now I-44 between I-35 and modern I-240 was part of pre-1982 I-240. The section of I-44/US 66 between OK 74 and I-35 is shown as an expressway! Were there really at-grades on what is now I-44 as late as 1980? I-44 was extended south for the 75th Anniversary of statehood. I don't get it either. A section of I-235 is shown south of I-240/44. Was it signed as I-235 upon completion?
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/914/41579097050_3e5891c4d4_m.jpg)
There were still a couple of at-grade intersections on the old I-240 corridor (now I-44) on the North side of Oklahoma City in the early 1980's. I remember one instance early in 1983 when my mother was driving through that part of OKC. We are just getting a cross-country trip underway to drive to a new duty station Northern Virginia. My dad was already there. We were going to take I-44 up to St Louis and pick up I-70 there. Anyway we were stopped at one of those traffic lights and a semi truck nearly side swiped our Jeep Cherokee.
Absolutely true. There were traffic signals at US66 and N Eastern (before it became MLK Blvd). If you were bombing along WB and came over the hill too fast, you barely had time to slow down if the light was red. IIRC the Belle Isle Bridge wasn't finished until the early 80's so the roundabout at NW Expy and Classen was still there along with the light where US66 veered south and west just before Penn Square Mall.
The southern leg of I-444 and the connecting section of the Broken Arrow Expressway in Tulsa was completed in 1982. Previously, the BA ended at Wheeling Avenue, with inbound traffic using 13th Street into Downtown, and outbound traffic using 13th.
The at-grade intersections on I-44 at Kelley and at Eastern in OKC went away in 1987, when the conversion to full freeway was completed. This was the same time that I-35 was upgraded to full freeway between the I-44 junction and the Turner Turnpike. The frontage roads were built first, then traffic used them until the mainline was completed.
SM-T580
Here is a 1954 view of Claussen Circle. It appears that US 66 went through the circle then followed the Northwest Expressway (former OK 66A/3A) for a short distance then made a hard left turn onto what is now I-44.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/924/41589111140_f38837a396_b.jpg)
Here is a map from 1987 showing US 77 on its former surface route through Oklahoma City and OK 77H coming from Moore on Sunnyvale then turning west on Reno, ending at Byers and Reno. OK 77H crossed I-40 3 times.
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1762/41589545110_46d9d9bbf4_b.jpg)
Here's another map from 1987 that shows parts of I-44 and I-35 as surface expressways.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/917/43350322892_4e744ffe70_c.jpg)
Here is a very short highway that I recently discovered. OK 33A ran along Denver between 2nd and 3rd. It was a connector between US 64 and US 75. This is from a 1956 map:
(https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1768/28530879327_5b966ec46f_o.png)
Is that a 1956 control section map? Where'd you dig that up?
It is indeed a 1956 control section map, and I acquired it through the Tulsa County Library.
1956 control section maps. Note MP-06-47 "Rodeo Park" (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180715/a54c8df9bc12cc5e5b5a68faea7a04a8.jpg)
Nexus 5X
Cool find. Any way you could upload the whole thing somewhere? It would be a pretty amazing history source.