The Gilcrease Expressway is a

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

Tulsa County Tulsa County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 669,279, making it the second-most populous county in the state, behind only Oklahoma C ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is part of the county's long-term plan to complete an outer highway loop around

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

. The highway will connect

Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is an Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Falls, T ...

(I-44) in Sapulpa to

I-244 Interstate 244 (I-244), also known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Expressway (in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.) since 1984, the Crosstown Expressway, and the Red Fork Expressway, is a east–west Interstate Highway bypass route ...

near

Tulsa International Airport Tulsa International Airport is a civil-military airport five miles (8 km) northeast of Downtown Tulsa, in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named Tulsa Municipal Airport when the city acquired it in 1929 ...

Route description

The eastern segment of the highway runs from North 41st West Avenue east to Interstate 244. From US-75 to I-244/ US-412, the Gilcrease carries the easternmost part of State Highway 11. The currently existing highway serves

and surrounding areas. Additionally, the Gilcrease Expressway Extension has been constructed. On October 29, 2015, Governor

Mary Fallin Mary Fallin (; née Copeland; born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 27th governor of Oklahoma from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, she was elected in 2010 Oklahoma gub ...

announced Driving Forward, a $892 million turnpike package. A tolled extension of the Gilcrease Expressway was included in the package. The project began in the third quarter of 2016. On June 4, 2018, the Oklahoma Transportation Commission approved the designation Oklahoma State Highway 344 for the highway, to take effect upon completion of construction. The extension opened on November 14, 2022.

Future

In 2010, the Oklahoma Legislature authorized the

Oklahoma Turnpike Authority The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority (formerly Oklahoma Transportation Authority) is an agency of Oklahoma that deals with issues regarding the Turnpikes of Oklahoma, Oklahoma turnpike system. Along with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, th ...

to study the construction of a turnpike to complete the Gilcrease Expressway. The cost of the turnpike was estimated at $373 million for the final of the expressway. The next portion of the Gilcrease Expressway to be constructed is the segment between 41st West Avenue and Edison Street in West Tulsa. Although, the section between 41st West Avenue and Edison Street is named 31st Street North, 53rd West Avenue, Newton Street and 57th West Avenue. Many homes have been removed along 57th West Avenue between West 26th Street and West 21st Street. Plans include construction of a bridge over the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...

, connecting Sand Springs and Berryhill. $88 million of a $918.7 million tax increase will be put forward to the expressway's extension.

Junction list

References

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline Roads in Oklahoma Transportation in Tulsa, Oklahoma Transportation in Tulsa County, Oklahoma