State Highway 87 is a highway in southeastern
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 ...
, running for .
It passes through the extreme southeastern corner of the state, running entirely through
McCurtain Co. It has no lettered spur routes.
Route description
SH-87 begins at an intersection with
US-259 near the unincorporated community of
Harris, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Red River. SH-87 heads east from here, proceeding along many curves. The highway is two-lane for its entire length, and much of it is very narrow with no shoulders (though a short stretch of highway that was realigned to approach a new
girder bridge
A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box.
The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge d ...
that replaced an old through
truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
was built with shoulders). The highway crosses no major rivers, but does bridge Walnut Bayou. SH-87 ends at the
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
state line, where it becomes
Arkansas Highway 108.
SH-87 is shown on the Oklahoma state highway map as
concurrent with US-259 to at least
Idabel
Idabel is a city in and the county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,961 at the 2020 census. It is in Oklahoma's southeast corner, a tourist region known as Choctaw Country.
History
Idabel was established ...
.
However, this is an error, as the highway is only signed from US-259 to the Arkansas state line, and is shown on ODOT's internal control section maps as ending at US-259.
History
State Highway 87 first appeared on the June 1944 state highway map. When it was originally commissioned, the highway was a spur route; its western end was in Idabel, and its eastern end was approximately the location of the present-day US-259–SH-87 intersection. Towards the end of its route, SH-87 served
Harris.
By 1948, SH-87 was extended, setting its eastern terminus at its present location at the Arkansas state line.
However, this terminus proved to be temporary at first, as the highway was rerouted to turn north to end at
SH-21 (now
SH-3) in
Tom in 1952.
However, by 1957, the state line terminus had been reestablished, and SH-87 has ended there to the present day.
In the early 1960s, SH-87's length was at its zenith, as the highway stretched from Idabel to the Arkansas state line. However, on 1963-01-07, US-259 was established.
The section of SH-87 from Idabel through Harris was turned over to the new U.S. route, setting the western terminus of the highway to its present-day location.
Junction list
References
External links
{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
SH-87 at OKHighways
087
Transportation in McCurtain County, Oklahoma