Interstate 240 (Oklahoma)

Interstate 240
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap I-240 highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route of I-40
Maintained by ODOT
Length	16.22 mi[1] (26.10 km)
Existed	1965[2]–present
Major junctions
West end	I-44 / US 62 / SH-3 in Oklahoma City, OK
	I-35 / US 62 / US 77 in Oklahoma City, OK
East end	I-40 / US 270 / SH-3 in Oklahoma City, OK
Location
Counties	Oklahoma
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future Oklahoma State Highway System Interstate US State Turnpikes ← I-235 → I-244

Interstate 240 (I-240) is an Interstate Highway in Oklahoma, United States, that runs 16.22 miles (26.1 km) west from Interstate 40 to Interstate 44 in southern Oklahoma City. After its terminus in southwest Oklahoma City, the main I-240 roadbed becomes Interstate 44 and Airport Road toward Will Rogers World Airport. The interstate overlaps SH-3, the longest Oklahoma state highway, for its entire length.

Major destinations along the route include Tinker Air Force Base and the heavily populated Southside of Oklahoma City. With just under 8,000,000 square feet (740,000 m²) of commercial space,^{[3][unreliable source?]} I-240 is a major corridor of retail, industrial and office space. As of 2012, however, the corridor included some "pockets of shuttered stores and creeping shabbiness" and local planners were in the first stages of efforts to revitalize the corridor.^[4]

Route description[]

From the western terminus at I-44, I-240/US-62/SH-3 runs east towards Interstate 35. This western half is the busier of the two sections, serving the Southside area of Oklahoma City and traffic headed to the airport. This segment has a configuration of ramps that causes much weaving and many accidents. An entrance ramp will merge onto the highway, forming a new lane. This new lane then becomes an "exit only" lane for the next exit. However, the exits are not spaced very far apart, causing entering and exiting traffic to conflict. (For a satellite photo, see^[5].) Signs were installed in October 2004 designating the western half of I-240 as the Keith Leftwich Memorial Loop, in honor of a state senator who had died around that time.^[6] I-240 meets I-35 at a cloverleaf interchange. US-62 splits off to join with I-35 northbound at this interchange.

The section of I-240 east of I-35 exists primarily to serve the now-closed General Motors plant and Tinker Air Force Base. This section is much less traveled, having only four lanes (two in each direction) for much of its length. At I-240's eastern terminus with I-40, motorists traveling eastbound on I-240 are forced to merge onto I-40 eastbound—there is no I-40 westbound off-ramp. (Those wishing to take I-40 westbound must exit off of I-240 a mile earlier at Anderson Road, a surface street, and travel on it northbound until they reach I-40, or continue east on I-40 before turning around at the next exit at Choctaw Road.)

History[]

The section of what is now I-240 between I-35 and current I-44 was already complete in 1965 as an alignment of US-62.^{[citation needed]} When the Interstate route was initially established in the 1960s, I-240 ran from its current eastern terminus around the city, turning north at the present interchange with I-44, continuing on the present course of I-44 to its present southern junction with I-35. (Interstate 44 ended near Edmond at the western end of the Turner Turnpike at the time.) I-240 thus nearly created a loop around the city, intersecting both I-35 and I-40 twice. The section east of I-35 to its eastern terminus at I-40 was completed in 1973.^{[citation needed]} The entirety of the route was complete in 1976.^{[citation needed]} Once completed, Interstate 240 was 31.76 miles (51.11 km) long.^[7]

As part of Oklahoma's 75th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee) celebrations in 1982, ODOT extended I-44 to Lawton and Wichita Falls, Texas along the H.E. Bailey Turnpike. This caused I-240 to be truncated to its current western terminus near Will Rogers World Airport.^[8]

Future[]

On August 2, 2021, the Oklahoma Transportation Commission approved an extension to the Interstate 240 designation to form a beltway around Oklahoma City. Starting in the existing eastern terminus, I-240 will run concurrent with I-40 to the Kickapoo Turnpike, then turn north and follow the Kickapoo Turnpike north to I-44 (the Turner Turnpike), then turn west along I-44 to the Kilpatrick Turnpike, following that road west and south to its current southern terminus at SH-152, then turning east along SH-152 and following that road east to I-44, which it will overlap until reaching the current western terminus of I-240, bringing the total length of the proposed I-240 loop to 91 miles (146.4 km).^[9] If signed, it will become the longest complete beltway numbered as a single Interstate Highway in the U.S., supplanting Cincinnati, Ohio's I-275 at 83.71 miles (134.7 km).

ODOT Director stated in the Transportation Commission meeting that the numbering change was primarily to aid in navigation using digital mapping and routing applications. Gatz also said, "If you look at the Interstate 240 designation on the loop around the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, we are finally to the point where we have a truly contiguous route there that can shoulder the burden of some of that transportation need in a loop format. That's common practice across the country, and you'll see that in many of the metropolitan areas, and that update will really be beneficial as far as everything from signage to how do you describe that route on a green-and-white sign." The designation must be approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to take effect.^[10]

Exit list[]

The entire route is in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County.

mi[11]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
0.0	0.0		I-44 east (SH-3) to I-40 – Tulsa, Wichita	Western terminus of I-240; western end of SH-3 concurrency
		1A	I-44 / US 62 west – Lawton	Western end of US-62 concurrency; I-44 EB exit 115
0.7	1.1	1B	S. May Avenue
1.7	2.7	1C	S. Pennsylvania Avenue
2.7	4.3	2A	S. Western Avenue
3.2	5.1	2B	S. Walker Avenue
3.7	6.0	3A	S. Santa Fe Avenue	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
4.0	6.4	3B	Shields Boulevard / Santa Fe Avenue	Eastbound signed as "S. Shields Boulevard" only
4.7	7.6	4A-B	I-35 (US-77) / US 62 east – Dallas, Wichita	Eastern end of US-62 concurrency; I-35 exit 121B
5.2	8.4	4C	Pole Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
5.8	9.3	5	Eastern Avenue
6.8	10.9	6	Bryant Avenue
7.8	12.6	7	Sunnylane Road
8.8	14.2	8	SH-77H south (Sooner Road) - Tinker AFB	Northern terminus of SH-77H
9.8	15.8	9	Air Depot Boulevard
11.8	19.0	11	Douglas Boulevard – Tinker AFB, Midwest City	Signed as exits 11A (Douglas Boulevard) and 11B (Tinker AFB/Midwest City) eastbound
14.9	24.0	14	Anderson Road
16.8	27.0		I-40 / US 270 / SH-3 east	Eastern terminus of I-240; no access to I-40 west; eastern end of SH-3 concurrency; I-40 WB exit 165
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 240 (Oklahoma).

• I-240 at OKHighways.com
• I-240 at Kurumi.com
• I-240 at AARoads

Route map: