Design
Because the Will Rogers Turnpike was built prior to authorization of the Interstate Highway System (in 1956), it uses a different set of design standards than are now current. As the road has been rebuilt, this is being brought in line with current design practice.
The original route of the Turnpike continued straight into and through Tulsa, becoming Skelly Drive in town (where tolls are not charged). In recent years with construction of the Creek Turnpike, the westernmost portion of the Will Rogers Turnpike was deleted so that the Creek and Will Rogers Turnpikes essentially form one road, with motorists required to exit at a standard cloverleaf interchange to stay on I-44. The new alignment adds over a mile of additional travel to motorists and truckers wishing to continue on I-44, encouraging them to instead remain on a toll facility for the duration of their journey (The Creek Turnpike takes a very roundabout route around Tulsa). The old pavement is now used as a training ground for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, among others.
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Famous quotes containing the word design:
“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life ... for fear that I should get some of his good done to me,—some of its virus mingled with my blood.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What but design of darkness to appall?—
If design govern in a thing so small.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)