Oklahoma Roads - OK 3

OK 3


All photos were taken eastbound except the two on I-44.


OK 3/OK 33 15 minutes west of Kingfisher. The only place near there that begins with EL is Lake Elmer, so I can't figure out what the former writing was when this was a Branch. (Nor can I read the current writing, thanks to weathering.)


OK 3 WB follows I-44 EB past former OK 152 in the second photo.

Past the east end of I-240, courtesy Matt Kleiman. The old-school I-40 and previous-generation OK 3 circle are certainly both gone now.


After the former alignment of OK 3 rejoins the current roadway northwest of Coalgate, there's still one more abandoned bridge to the north to be bypassed before meeting US 75.


There's a new alignment of OK 3 west of Atoka, signed as "By-Pass." It follows Greathouse Rd. to OK 7, where these two photos were taken. As the second photo shows, OK 3 may or may not have been rerouted onto the bypass - it's so new that the circle shields were replaced along the old route before this one opened. OK 7 ends here, so if OK 3 does follow the bypass, there's a chance that OK 7 will be truncated back to Greathouse Rd. (but it could still end multiplexed).


The first of many old segments following OK 3, with the last photo looking over my shoulder westward as it's cut off by the modern highway.


The old highway then crosses over to the other side, but what's this? OK 3 then follows suit! It seems that the current highway is being rebuilt, so conveniently, the old roadway can be repurposed as a temporary alignment.


Following the old alignment; the fifth photo especially is a good demonstration of why the current road is superior to the old one - smoother horizontal and vertical curves.


There's a short section of divided highway already open in Darwin, and yet neither roadway has taken over the old one. East of there, short sections have been removed to prevent traffic joyriding on it, using it to pass slow-moving vehicles or traffic, etc.


Well, finally, the next stretch of dualization seems to be using the old road as the second carriageway. The second photo looks back west at the end of the old alignment as it fairs back into the WB lanes.


Remember OK 7 from way back up the page? It now ends at US 69/75, but used to follow OK 3 this far across the state and diverged again. This faces the top of the Indian Nation Tpk. NB offramp, and obviously if it's old enough to still use circle shields, it's old enough to reflect the old routing of 7. The interchange itself is a relic - all four ramps are the insides of cloverleaf loops, with no outsides. That means all traffic entering and exiting the Turnpike has to go under the OK 3 overpass, which makes it a convenient place for a toll. Kentucky used the same setup, and now that its parkways are all free, it's fast converting them to safer designs. (This design is fine as long as everyone has to stop under the bridge. When it's a free weave, things get hairy.)


The gargoyles are watching you in Antlers.


Across the Kiamichi River.


Another old EB alignment heads off to dead-end at Pine Creek Lake (a reservoir that filled in over the road, but you can still trace parts of the road through it), and then a similar-looking bridge to before, this time over Glover River.



OK 74 and OK 3/74
I-240/OK 3
US 177 and OK 3W/US 177
Former OK 18 (OK 3W/US 177)
Former OK 3, Ada to Coalgate
US 75 and OK 3/US 75
US 259 and OK 3/US 70/259
Exit 1A or 4B to US 62 alone


Onto I-44
Onto I-40
Onto US 69
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