By Barbara Hoberock, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority on Tuesday voted to seek interstate designations for two eastern Oklahoma turnpikes.
The panel voted to designate the nearly 33-mile Creek Turnpike in south Tulsa as Interstate 644 and to designate the 52-mile Muskogee Turnpike from Tulsa to Interstate 40 near Webbers Falls as Interstate 343.
Both turnpikes are currently classified as state highways, said Darian Butler, OTA engineering director.
The interstate destination means the roadway is one of the highest quality, said Dana Weber, an OTA member.
“It is the highest, most prestigious number that you can assign a roadway,” said Joe Echelle, OTA executive director. “Our turnpikes 99.9 percent of the time fit an interstate designation already.”
Echelle said the agency will work with the Federal Highway Administration to make any needed changes to obtain the designations.
Usually that entails minor adjustments, like removing a tree that is too close to a road or a stripe that needs to be repainted, Echelle said.
On maps, interstates are designated with a blue and red shield, Echelle said.
“You know that is controlled access,” Echelle said. “It is high speed. It should be the safest route you are going to take. We want to show Oklahoma off that we have all of these interstate-type roadways.”
It will be a few months before the signage is posted, Echelle said.
“We don’t receive any federal funding for making these interstate designated,” said Trenton January, OTA chief engineer.
But the designation demonstrates the condition of the roadway for travelers, he said.
Most people traveling to or through the state want to take an interstate without stops that state-designated highways may require, he said.
Five of the OTA’s 12 turnpikes are already designated as interstates, January said.
Most recently, the John Kilpatrick Turnpike in Oklahoma City was designated as Interstate 344 while the Kickapoo east of Oklahoma City was designated as Interstate 335, January said.
