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. 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. The entirety of the route was complete in 1976. In 1978, Interstate 240 was 31.76 miles (51.11 km) long.
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.
Read more about this topic: Interstate 240 (Oklahoma)
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“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
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—Robert M. Fresco, and Jack Arnold. Prof. Gerald Deemer (Leo G. Carroll)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)