State Highway 51, abbreviated to SH-51 or OK-51, is a major state highway in Oklahoma, United States. It runs for east–west across the state, running from the

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

state line to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

. It is the third-longest state highway in the system.

Route description

Texas to I-35

SH-51 begins at the Texas line concurrent with US-60 just east of Higgins, Texas. It remains concurrent for 61 miles (98 km) until it reaches

US-270 U.S. Route 270 (US 270) is a spur of US 70. It travels for from Liberal, Kansas at US 54 and US 83 to White Hall, Arkansas at Interstate 530 (I-530) and US 65. It travels through the states of Arkansas, Oklahom ...

/ US-281/ SH-3 at

Seiling, Oklahoma Seiling is a city in Dewey County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 860 at the 2010 census. The town was named in 1899 for Louis Seiling, a local store owner who had acquired a homestead in the Cheyenne-Arapaho land run of April 1892. ...

. At Seiling, SH-51 joins with those three highways for nine miles (14 km) before splitting off on its own. after splitting off, Highway 51 meets SH-58 in Canton. It then continues east, crossing the

North Canadian River The North Canadian River is a river, long, in Oklahoma in the United States. It is a tributary of the Canadian River, draining an area of U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset/Watershed Boundary Dataset, area data covering North ...

and meeting SH-51A before turning northeast toward Okeene, where it intersects SH-8. SH-51 will go for before intersecting another highway. In Hennessey SH-51 meets US-81 before continuing eastward. later, it meets SH-74 north of

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

. to the east, it shares a brief concurrency with US-77; later it has an interchange at

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border ...

at Exit 174.

I-35 to Tulsa

After crossing I-35, SH-51 becomes a multilane highway and a major corridor linking I-35 to Stillwater, the home of

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. Along this stretch is an intersection with SH-86. When SH-51 reaches Stillwater, it meets

US-177 U.S. Route 177 (US-177) is a spur of U.S. Route 77. It currently runs for 233 miles (375 km) from South Haven, Kansas at US-81 to Madill, Oklahoma at US-70. It passes through the states of Kansas and Oklahoma. Route description Oklahoma ...

. Continuing east from Stillwater, the road returns to a two-lane highway after sharing a concurrency with SH-108 and intersects with SH-18 later. east of this, it passes through Yale, Oklahoma before crossing SH-99. It becomes a multilane highway again after SH-48. It turns into the "Mannford Freeway" before passing through the small towns of Mannford and Lotsee on its way toward the

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

area.

Tulsa and beyond

In Sand Springs, SH-51 crosses 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 the western United S ...

with SH-97 before merging onto the Sand Springs Expressway ( US-412/ US-64). When this freeway ends at I-244 near downtown Tulsa, SH-51 merges onto I-244 southbound only to exit later, where it runs concurrent with US-64/ US-75. This freeway is actually Interstate 444, but the route is not signed as such. After one more mile, SH-51 leaves the interstate with US-64 and becomes the Broken Arrow Expressway, a freeway running northwest–southeast through Tulsa which is known as "The BA" by locals and local media. US-64 leaves the freeway as a concurrency with US-169 southbound. Later, SH-51 will exit the freeway and become a four-lane highway toward Coweta. The mainline freeway becomes the Muskogee Turnpike. At Coweta, SH-51 turns back east after heading southeast through the Tulsa area. After crossing the Muskogee Turnpike again and bridging the

Verdigris River The Verdigris River is a tributary of the Arkansas River in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map ...

the highway soon enters Wagoner, where it junctions with US-69. Returning once again to a 2-lane road, Highway 51 crosses Ft. Gibson Lake and the town of Hulbert. later, it passes through Tahlequah, where it has a brief concurrency with

US-62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canada ...

/ SH-10. After spitting with these highways, it heads southeast toward

Stilwell, Oklahoma Stilwell is a city and county seat of Adair County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,700 as of the 2020 U.S. census, a decline of 6.7 percent from the 3,949 population recorded in 2010. The Oklahoma governor and legislature proc ...

, running concurrent with US-59 for a mile on the way. After leaving Stilwell it provides access to Adair State Park, and then crosses the Arkansas line becoming Arkansas Highway 244, which quickly connects to

Arkansas Highway 59 Arkansas Highway 59 is a north–south state highway in Northwest Arkansas. The route runs from Arkansas Highway 22 in Barling north to the Missouri state line through Van Buren, the county seat of Crawford County. Highway 59 parallels US 59 ( ...

History

SH-51 was originally commissioned on June 1, 1927 as a connector from Stilwell to Eldon at SH-27 (present-day US-62). By 1928, it had been extended to Tulsa.Oklahoma Department of Transportation
1928 Highway Map
On June 15, 1933, it was extended to the east to the Arkansas state line, where it became AR-45. ODOT extended SH-51 west to Stillwater and Perry (via a segment of roadway currently serving as US-177).Oklahoma Department of Transportation
1935 Highway Map
On March 18, 1935, the section from Stillwater to Perry was rescinded and SH-51 was extended to SH-8 at Okeene.Oklahoma Department of Transportatio
1937 Highway Map
/ref> It was then extended to Seiling on October 18, 1938. On March 23, 1943, it was extended to the Texas state line by a concurrency with US-60. The Broken Arrow Expressway was built in the early 1960s and opened in 1964. It was not, however, officially named the Broken Arrow Expressway until July 6, 1999 by H.B. 1455. The steel truss bridge carrying SH-51 across Stillwater Creek west of Stillwater, once considered the gateway into the city, was removed on March 25, 2008. In a first for the state of Oklahoma, the bridge, originally built in 1936, was sold to Payne County for $200,000 and transferred to a county road east of Stillwater, where it was installed over Council Creek.

Major intersections

Spurs

Like many in the Oklahoma state highway system, SH-51 has short spurs branching from it that bear the "51" number with a lettered suffix: * SH-51A () runs from SH-58 northeast of Canton to SH-8 near Roman Nose State Park. It is the longest suffixed highway in the system. * SH-51B () connects Coweta to US-69 north of Muskogee. It goes through the towns of Porter and Tullahassee. * SH-51C (decommissioned) () connected SH-51 west of Stillwater to Carl Blackwell Lake until it was decommissioned in 2005. * SH-51D (decommissioned) connected SH-51 south of Sand Springs with I-244 in

, running along

Avery Drive Avery may refer to: Business * Avery Company, a former tractor manufacturer and later produced trucks and automobiles * Avery Weigh-Tronix, a British manufacturer of industrial weighing systems * Avery Berkel, a British manufacturer of retai ...

and West 21st Street. It appeared on some ODOT maps as late as the 1970s, but is no longer shown.Oklahoma Department of Transportation map, ''Average Daily Traffic Volume'', Tulsa inset, 1977. * In 2004, ODOT completed SH-51 Spur, running for as part of a loop through northwest Tahlequah, serving Tahlequah Municipal Airport, and ending at State Highway 82. It is currently the newest Oklahoma state highway.

References

External links