Oklahoma State Highway 39

State Highway 39
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Length:	68.4 mi (110.1 km)
Existed:	1936/7[1] – present
Major junctions
West end:	US-62/US-277/SH-9 east of Chickasha
East end:	US-377/SH-3E/SH-99 east of Konawa mainline becomes SH-56
Highway system
Oklahoma State Highways Oklahoma turnpike system ← SH-38 I-40 →

State Highway 39, abbreviated as SH-39 or OK-39, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is 68.4 miles^[2] (110 km) in length. Built in 1923^[3], it runs east–west through the central part of the state. It currently has no lettered spurs.

Route description

SH-39 shield on SH-24 near their intersection.

The highway begins at the concurrency of US-62/US-277/State Highway 9 near the unincorporated community of Tabler, east of Chickasha. The road begins traveling east from there, intersecting SH-76 ten miles (16 km) later west of Dibble. From Dibble, it continues east, meeting the eastern terminus of SH-59 and intersecting SH-24 in the unincorporated town of Woody Chapel. It then continues east to Purcell.

In Purcell, SH-39 crosses under Interstate 35, but does not have a junction with it. The highway soon encounters US-77/SH-74 just east of the interstate. Here, it turns northward and begins an overlap with the two highways through Purcell. SH-74 splits off after a few blocks while SH-39 and US-77 turn eastward and cross over the Canadian River on the James C. Nance Memorial Bridge. After crossing the river, the highways arrive in the town of Lexington and US-77 splits off to the northeast.

SH-39 continues eastward, serving the Lexington prison and overlapping for less than a mile with SH-102. At the town of Asher, the highway intersects SH-3W and SH-59 again. 11 miles (18 km) later, the highway meets SH-9A in Konawa.

Four miles (6 km) later, the highway ends at US-377/SH-3E/SH-99. The mainline of the highway becomes SH-56.

History

The road that would become SH-39 was built in 1923^[3], but it was not assigned a state route number until at least late 1936, first appearing on the 1937 state map.^[1] Originally, the route's eastern terminus was at US-77 in Purcell.^[1] By April 1939, it had been extended eastward to end at Asher.^[4] The route first reached its current termini in 1941 (although at the time, SH-99 passed through Konawa).^[5] A short gap existed west of Asher in the SH-39 designation between 1946 and 1947;^[6] by 1948 this gap had been filled. The final change to SH-39 occurred in 1968 or 1969, when SH-99 was rerouted to bypass Konawa, and SH-39 was extended east of town to end at the present junction.^[7] No changes have been made since.

Spurs

SH-39 once had one spur route, SH-39B. It ran along what is now May Avenue from SH-39's junction with SH-59 to SH-74B east of Cole, Oklahoma.^[8]

Junction list

County	Location	Mile[2]	Destinations	Notes
Grady	Tabler	0.0	US-62/277/SH-9	Western terminus
McClain	Dibble	9.7	SH-76
		15.1	SH-59	Western terminus of SH-59
	Woody Chapel	19.0	SH-24
	Purcell	26.4	US-77/SH-74
		27.5	SH-74
Cleveland	Lexington	28.8	US-77
Pottawatomie		47.0	SH-102
		47.2	SH-102
	Asher	53.1	US-177/SH-3W/59
Seminole	Konawa	63.4	SH-9A	Southern terminus of SH-9A
		68.4	US-377/SH-3E/99	Eastern terminus; mainline continues as SH-56
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Oklahoma Department of Highways. Map Showing Condition of the State Highway System and Landing Fields (Map) (April 1937 ed.). http://www.odot.org/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/pdfs/1937.pdf. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Stuve, Eric. "OK-39". OKHighways. http://www.okhighways.com/ok39.html. Retrieved 2005-03-27. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Burns, Hoyt. Early History of the Town of Washington, Oklahoma. Del City, Oklahoma, Del City Publishing Co., Inc.
4. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Map Showing Condition of the State Highway System (Map) (April 1939 ed.). http://www.odot.org/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/pdfs/1939.pdf. 
5. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Map Showing Condition of the State Highway System (Map) (January 1942 ed.). http://www.odot.org/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/pdfs/1942.pdf. 
6. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. (Untitled 1947 state map) (Map). http://www.odot.org/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/pdfs/1947.pdf. 
7. ^ Oklahoma Department of Highways. Oklahoma (Map) (1969 ed.). http://www.odot.org/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/state-maps/pdfs/1969.pdf. 
8. ^ Map of McClain County. Date unknown. Washington High School library. Referenced 17:42, 13 February 2006 (UTC).

External links

• SH-39 on OKHighways.com
• SH-39 on Roadklahoma