State Highway 3, also abbreviated as SH-3 or OK-3, is a highway maintained by the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

state of

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 ...

. Traveling diagonally through Oklahoma, from the Panhandle to the far southeastern corner of the state, SH-3 is the longest state highway in the Oklahoma road system, at a total length of via SH-3E ( see below).

Route description

In the northwest

Highway 3 begins at the Colorado state line north of

Boise City, Oklahoma Boise City ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Cimarron County, Oklahoma, Cimarron County, in the Oklahoma Panhandle, Panhandle of Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,166 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, a decline of ...

. At this terminus, it is

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with

US-287 U.S. Route 287 (US 287) is a north–south (physically northwest–southeast) United States highway. At long, it is the second longest three-digit U.S. Route, behind US 281. It serves as the major truck route between Fort Worth and Ama ...

/ US-385. It remains concurrent with the two U.S. Routes until reaching Boise City, where it encounters a

traffic circle A roundabout is a type of circular intersection (road), intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The N ...

which contains five other highways. After the circle, US-385 splits off, and SH-3 overlaps US-287, US-56, US-64, and US-412, though US-56 and US-287 both split off within the next . In Guymon, US-64 splits off. At Elmwood, US-270 joins US-412, coming from a concurrency with

State Highway 23 Route 23, or Highway 23, can refer to: International * European route E23 Australia * Federal Highway (Australia) * Monaro Highway * (South Australia) * Dorat Road (not signed everywhere) Austria * Autobahn Südosttangente Wien Canada * Albe ...

. SH-3 remains concurrent with US-270 through Watonga. In Seiling, US-183 leaves the concurrency but is quickly replaced by U.S. Highway 281. SH-33 joins the roadbed later. In Watonga, SH-33 and SH-3 split off from US-270 and US-281. Highways 3 and 33 remain concurrent for 28 more miles, until

Kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

, where SH-3 joins

U.S. Highway 81 U.S. Route 81 or U.S. Highway 81 (US 81) is a major north–south U.S. highway that extends for in the central United States and is one of the original United States Numbered Highways established in 1926 by the American Association of Stat ...

. It will stay concurrent with US-81 for , through the town of Okarche. Three miles after Okarche, SH-3 leaves US-81. This marks the first point that SH-3 has not been part of a concurrency.

Through Oklahoma City

Beginning at the split from US-81, Highway 3 becomes a major artery in the

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

highway system, commonly known as the '' Northwest Expressway'' because it is a diagonal route and because it serves the northwestern part of the metro area. It skirts the northern limits of

El Reno El Reno is a city in and county seat of Canadian County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 16,989, marking a change of 1.55% from 16,729, recorded in the 2010 census. The city was begun shortly after the 18 ...

before entering the Oklahoma City limits. The often-congested Northwest Expressway passes through the suburb of Warr Acres and passes close to

Lake Hefner Lake Hefner is a reservoir in northwestern Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was built in the 1940s to expand the water supply for the city of Oklahoma City,Lake Hefner Parkway State Highway 74, usually abbreviated as SH-74 or OK-74 (or simply Highway 74) is the numbering of two different highways maintained by the U.S. state of Oklahoma. These highways were once a single major north–south route, connecting Oklahoma ...

, SH-3 again re-enters a concurrency. The Lake Hefner Parkway ends very shortly after, and SH-3 becomes concurrent with

Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major 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 Fal ...

through the western side of the city. Near

Will Rogers World Airport Will Rogers World Airport , Will Rogers Airport or simply Will Rogers, is a passenger airport located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, about 6 miles (10 km) southwest of the city's downtown area. It is a civil-military airport ...

, Highway 3 transfers to I-240 along the southern side of the city. After I-240 ends, SH-3 is transferred onto

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 ...

(also carrying US-270), which it remains concurrent with for .

SH-3E/3W split

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

, SH-3 splits into two highways, SH-3E and SH-3W. SH-3W splits off I-40 onto U.S. Highway 177, along with US-270, at I-40 milemarker 181. It continues along with US-270 and 177 through the west side of Shawnee, and continues south of that city until

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy and ...

, where US-270 splits off. South of

Asher Asher ( he, אָשֵׁר ''’Āšēr''), in the Book of Genesis, was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Zilpah (Jacob's eighth son) and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Asher. Name The text of the Torah states that the name of ''Asher' ...

, SH-3W leaves US-177 and veers southeast toward Ada. SH-3E, the longer of the two split routes, was the original routing of Highway 3 before the two highways were split. It remains on I-40 for after SH-3W splits off. When it does split off, it soon joins SH-18. It follows a route closer to the center of Shawnee. After leaving Shawnee, it heads southeast toward

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, an ...

. Here, it meets US-377/ SH-99. SH-3E merges onto this highway, and they will remain concurrent until after they reach Ada. In

Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...

, SH-3E and SH-3W are reunited and become SH-3 once again.

Ada to Atoka

SH-3 then becomes part of the Richardson Loop, a freeway around the west and south sides of Ada. Throughout the Richardson Loop, it overlaps SH-1 and US-377/SH-99 at different times. The highway then becomes two-lane once again and heads southeast to the town of Coalgate, where begins an concurrency with

U.S. Highway 75 U.S. Route 75 is a major north–south U.S. Highway that extends in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is in Noyes, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it once continued as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other sid ...

, lasting through Atoka. In Atoka, US-75 splits off to join U.S. Highway 69.

Antlers to Arkansas

Two miles west of

Antlers Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on males ...

, the highway has an interchange with the

Indian Nation Turnpike The Indian Nation Turnpike, also designated State Highway 375 (SH-375), is a toll road in southeastern Oklahoma, United States, running between Hugo and Henryetta, Oklahoma, a distance of . It is the longest tollway in the state. Route descript ...

, and in Antlers it intersects

U.S. Highway 271 U.S. Route 271 (US 271, US-271) is a north–south United States highway. Never a long highway, it went from bi-state route (Arkansas and Oklahoma) to a tri-state route (Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas). Its southern terminus is in Tyler, ...

. After reaching the town of Broken Bow,

, it turns southward and overlaps US-259 and US-70. Near

Idabel Idabel is a city in and county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,010 at the 2010 census. It is located in the southeast corner of Oklahoma, a tourist area known as Choctaw Country. History Idabel was est ...

, the highway splits off after being with US-259 for . Twenty-eight miles later, it becomes

Highway 32 The following highways are numbered 32: International * Asian Highway 32 * European route E32 Australia * Great Western Highway * Barrier Highway * East Derwent Highway * Mitchell Highway Canada * Alberta Highway 32 * Manitoba Highway 32 ...

as it crosses the state line into

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 Osage ...

History

The current SH-3 was designated on 15 May 1939. The original highway included all of current SH-3 up to Antlers, where it terminated at US-271. It was extended to the Arkansas state line on 4 August 1952. SH-3 ended there concurrent with US-70 and SH-7, near

DeQueen, Arkansas De Queen ( ) is a city and the county seat of Sevier County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 6,629 at the 2010 census. The placename is the anglicization of the family name of the Dutch merchant and railway financier, Jan de Goeij ...

. On 7 January 1963, the highway was given its own alignment from near Idabel to Arkansas, taking over that of SH-21, which was eliminated at that time. From the highway's commissioning to 1976, there was only one fork of SH-3 between Shawnee and Ada, which was the path of current SH-3E. SH-3W and SH-3E were created on 4 October 1976; the new SH-3W took over all of SH-13. Other than minor realignments, the highway remains essentially the same today. In the early 1980s, Governor

George Nigh George Patterson Nigh (born June 9, 1927) is an American politician and civic leader from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Nigh served as the 17th and the 22nd governor of Oklahoma and as the eighth and tenth lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. He was th ...

was able to obtain $97.1 million to upgrade the highway between Oklahoma City and Colorado, despite opponents labeling the project "the highway to nowhere". House Concurrent Resolution 1067 labeled the highway as "Governor

's Northwest Passage." ODOT officially so named the highway on 2 February 1981.

Notes

* SH-3's concurrency with Interstate 44 in Oklahoma City is an example of a

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurr ...

– I-44 West is SH-3 East and vice versa. * SH-3's concurrency with US-70 is also a wrong-way concurrency, as US-70 is signed as going west and SH-3 as going east. * The SH-3 bypass around Atoka is named the Cecil B. "Bud" Greathouse Bypass. It was designated by ODOT on 4 October 1982.

SH-3A

SH-3 had one lettered spur, SH-3A, which continued the alignment of the Northwest Expressway for two more miles before ending at Interstate 44 near

Penn Square Mall Penn Square Mall is a two-story, regional shopping mall in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and NW Expressway, near Interstate 44. The mall's anchor stores consist of JCPenney, Mac ...

. It was originally known as SH-66A, a spur off

U.S. Highway 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

, which once ran through the area. The combined effect of US-66 being decommissioned and "3A" being a more logical name for an extension of Highway 3 led to the name change. State Highway 3A was decommissioned in 2009.

Junction list

SH-3E

SH-3W

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
SH-3 at OKHighways.com

003 003, O03, 0O3, OO3 may refer to: *003, fictional British 00 Agent *003, former emergency telephone number for the Norwegian ambulance service (until 1986) *1990 OO3, the asteroid 6131 Towen * OO3 gauge model railway *''O03 (O2)'' and other related ...