History
In 1927, a spur from SH-33 to Crescent was created as SH-44. SH-44 was renumbered to SH-74 in 1931. On December 10, 1934, SH-74 was extended southward to Oklahoma City. The highway was further extended on September 9, 1935 to Norman. In 1935 and 1936, the highway's alignment through Norman was modified; it was extended from its Main Street terminus to US-77.
Also in 1936, SH-74 began expanding northward. On August 18, the designation was added to a new section of highway between Crescent and US-64 (now State Highway 164) in Covington. Nearly a year later, the route was extended southward again. The State Highway Commission lengthened SH-74 through Goldsby and Purcell to SH-19 in Maysville on July 1, 1937. The section of highway from Covington to US-60 in Lamont was added on April 14, 1941. On June 5, 1945, it was extended further south to SH-29 in Elmore City (at the time simply named Elmore).
Throughout the 1950s, State Highway 74 continued to be realigned and extended. Southwest of Norman, it swapped routings with SH-9 on December 6, 1954. SH-74 was extended twice in 1957, once in each direction: to the north on February 18 and to the south on June 10. The 1957 lengthening brought SH-74 to its greatest length, with its present-day northern terminus and a southern terminus at State Highway 53 near Milo.
By 1967, I-35 had been constructed through Oklahoma City. On January 4, 1967, SH-74 was split into two sections, with the removal of the section between Goldsby and Norman. The southern section was truncated on December 12, 1974, bringing the highway to its current southern terminus. The gap between the two sections of SH-74 was widened on March 3, 1975, when the route was eliminated through Cleveland County and much of Oklahoma City, bringing SH-74 to its present day termini.
The Lake Hefner Parkway opened in 1992. SH-74 was transferred to the new freeway on April 6. Between April and July 2001, ODOT installed a Brifen Safety Fence cable barrier along the Lake Hefner Parkway section of SH-74. This installation was the first application of this barrier design in the United States.
Read more about this topic: Oklahoma State Highway 74
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)