State Highway 27 (abbreviated SH-27) is a
state highway
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in east-central
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. It has an extent of
from south to north in
Hughes
Hughes may refer to:
People
* Hughes (surname)
* Hughes (given name)
Places Antarctica
* Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency
* Mount Hughes, Oates Land
* Hughes Basin, Oates Land
* Hughes Bay, Graham Land
* Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...
and
Okfuskee
Okfuskee are a Muscogee tribe. Alternative spellings include the traditional Mvskoke spelling "Akfvske", referring to the tribal town in Alabama, and the comparable spelling Oakfuskee. They formed part of the former Creek (Muscogee) Confederacy in ...
Counties. There are no letter-suffixed spur highways branching from SH-27.
SH-27 was first added to the state highway system in the late 1940s, but was removed from state control for approximately two years. Around 1958 it was returned to the highway system. Over the course of the highway's history, it was upgraded from a dirt and gravel connector route to a fully paved highway. The route was realigned in the mid-1990s, changing its southern end from
US-75
U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south United States Numbered Highways, U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canada–United States border, Canadian border, wh ...
north of
Wetumka to
SH-9 west of Wetumka. The route's northern terminus, at
US-62 in
Okemah
Okemah ( or ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the birthplace of folk music legend Woody Guthrie. Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, a federally recognized Muscogee Indian tribe, is headquartered ...
, has remained constant throughout its history.
Route description
State Highway 27 begins at
SH-9, west of
Wetumka.
From this terminus, SH-27 proceeds due north. It passes approximately west of
Lake Wetumka.
The route spends a total of in Hughes County before crossing the line into Okfuskee County.
In Okfuskee County, SH-27 diverges from its due north heading, curving to the northwest briefly before 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 ...
. From the river, it is a straight shot into
Okemah
Okemah ( or ) is the largest city in and the county seat of Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the birthplace of folk music legend Woody Guthrie. Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, a federally recognized Muscogee Indian tribe, is headquartered ...
.
On the south edge of town, SH-27 intersects
I-40
Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west Interstate Highway running through the south-central portion of the United States. At a length of , it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to ea ...
at Exit 221.
US-62 exits the interstate at this interchange, and follows SH-27 into town along Division. At Broadway,
SH-56 joins the concurrency. Finally, at the north end of town, US-62 turns west on Columbia, while SH-56 turns east; SH-27 ends at this intersection.
History
SH-27 first appears on the official state highway map in its 1948 edition, suggesting that it was created at some point in 1947. At this time, the route began in the north in Okemah, as it does presently; its southern terminus, however, was at
US-75
U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south United States Numbered Highways, U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canada–United States border, Canadian border, wh ...
north of Wetumka. In Hughes County, the highway consisted of gravel, switching to dirt in Okfuskee County.
The highway existed in this state until 1956, when it was removed from the highway system.
By 1959, SH-27 had returned to the state highway system. The Okfuskee County portion of the route had been upgraded to gravel.
In 1960, the route was realigned to cross the county line further east than it did previously. The segment of highway extending from approximately the North Canadian River crossing northward to Okemah was paved in 1967.
By 1972, the entire route had been paved.
SH-27 remained unchanged throughout the remainder of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1994, the southernmost reaches of the route were realigned. Instead of ending at US-75 north of Wetumka, the highway's southern terminus was changed to fall at SH-9 west of town.
This change left the highway in essentially the same configuration that it is today.
Junction list
References
External links
SH-27 at OKHighways.com{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
027
Transportation in Hughes County, Oklahoma
Transportation in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma