Oklahoma State Highway 10

State Highway 10
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Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Length:	233.1 mi (375.1 km)
Existed:	August 24, 1924 – present
Major junctions
North end:	SH-99 northwest of Bigheart
South end:	I‑40 near Gore
Highway system
Oklahoma State Highways Interstate U.S. Turnpikes ← SH-9 SH-11 →

State Highway 10 (abbreviated SH-10) is a state highway in northeastern Oklahoma. It makes a 233.1 miles (375.1 km) crescent through the northeast corner of the state, running from SH-99 in Osage County to Interstate 40 (I-40) near Gore. It has two lettered spur routes.

SH-10 first appeared as part of the original highway system designated in 1924. The route originally served eastern Oklahoma as a border-to-border route, connecting the Red River near Hugo to the Missouri state line near Joplin, Missouri. Much of the southern half of the route was dropped in 1941, while western extensions throughout the 1940s brought the highway to its current routing.

Route description

File:OK-10 scenic.jpg

Scenic SH-10 signage in Adair County, north of the Illinois River area.

Highway 10 begins at State Highway 99 northwest of the unincorporated town of Bigheart. The highway runs northeast of this point through sparsely-populated Osage County. The route runs across the dam forming Lake Hulah and runs through its eponymous unincorporated community. East of this, it crosses into Washington County, where it skirts Copan Lake. The route then proceeds to the town of Copan, where it intersects US-75. SH-10 progresses east to Nowata County, entering the county near Wann, before meeting US-169 around Elliot. It forms a concurrency with US-169 through the town of Lenapah, and splits off and heads due east from there. It does not intersect any highways or pass through any sizeable towns until Welch, where it meets US-59/SH-2. It then continues east to Miami, Oklahoma where it overlaps with US-59/69 and meets State Highway 125. After passing through Miami and passing the northern terminus of State Highway 137, SH-10 reaches its northeasternmost point at the western terminus of SH-10C (see below). After this point, all of SH-10 is north–south.

SH-10 has a brief concurrency with U.S. Highway 60 near Wyandotte. At Wyandotte, the route turns to the south once more for 16 miles (26 km) to its junction with SH-25. From this junction, the route turns to the west for the three-mile (4.8 km) stretch to Grove. Until recently, SH-25 and SH-10 were concurrent along this stretch, but SH-25 now ends at the aforementioned junction. In downtown Grove, SH-10 again joins US-59, and is signed with that highway for 30 miles (48 km) through mostly rural parts of Delaware County, including the county seat, Jay, where State Highway 20 joins with SH-10 and US-59 for approximately two miles.

South of Jay, the route continues south for 17 miles (27 km) to an intersection with SH-116. SH-10 continues south for 3 miles (4.8 km), coming to an interchange with U.S. Highway 412, the Cherokee Turnpike, at the town of Kansas. (US-59 departs just south of the interchange and follows US-412 east toward the Arkansas state line at West Siloam Springs.) SH-10 then begins paralleling the Illinois River, a popular recreation area primarily accessed through SH-10. It then heads eastbound again at US-62/State Highway 51. SH-10 forms a concurrency with these two highways to Tahlequah, where SH-51 splits off. US-62 and SH-10 remain concurrent until south of Ft. Gibson.

After leaving US-62, SH-10 runs mostly parallel to the Arkansas River, passing through the towns of Braggs, Oklahoma and Gore. It has a brief concurrency with U.S. Highway 64 to cross the Arkansas River, and splits off to the south in Webbers Falls. Just after this it ends at Interstate 40.

History

SH-10 was first added to the state highway system on August 24, 1924. The original route of the highway began at the Texas state line south of Hugo and followed present-day US-271 northward to Spiro, Oklahoma, where it turned west along present-day State Highway 9. The highway then resumed a northbound course along present-day SH-2 to Warner. In Warner, it turned east to follow what is now US-64 to Webbers Falls and Gore. From Gore, it followed its current route to what is now the present-day western terminus of SH-10C. From that intersection, rather than turning west towards Miami, SH-10 continued northeast to end southwest of Joplin, Missouri, approximately where Interstate 44 crosses the state line now. By 1927, however, the northern terminus had been relocated to Miami.

The Miami terminus lasted until January 30, 1930, when the highway was truncated to the US-60 junction near Wyandotte. However, this change would be reversed seven years later; SH-10 once again ended in Miami beginning February 3, 1937. SH-10 was extended to the west for the first time in 1941. The route's western terminus was moved to SH-2 at Welch on April 14, 1941. However, the other terminus was moved north at the end of that year, resulting in SH-10 being truncated to Gore after November 12, 1941. SH-10 was then extended farther west, to US-169 at Lenapah, on April 3, 1944.

A new section of highway, running from SH-99 to Copan, was added to the state highway system on August 21, 1954. This road was also assigned the SH-10 designation, creating a gap in the highway between Copan and Lenapah. This gap would persist until August 3, 1981, when SH-10 was extended east from Copan to US-169, filling the gap.

Interstate 40 was built through Sequoyah County in the late 1960s. SH-10 was extended from Gore along US-64 to Exit 291 on June 1, 1970. This brought SH-10 to its present-day southern terminus.

The section of SH-10 east of Gore was pressed into service as a detour for I-40 traffic after the collapse of its bridge over the Arkansas River on May 26, 2002. The detour significantly impacted the town of Gore. Local firefighters directed traffic there 24 hours a day, with daytime temperatures approaching 100 °F (38 °C). Businesses in Gore reported loss of revenue due to the traffic; one gas station reported a 30% decline in revenue while traffic was detoured through town. Delays of thirty to fifty minutes on the 12-mile (19 km) detour were typical, although trains passing through Gore could lengthen wait times by 15 minutes.

Spurs

File:OK 10C.JPG

State Highway 10C at the Missouri state line.

• SH-10A (6.3 mi) runs from SH-10 north of Gore to SH-100 near Lake Tenkiller.
• SH-10C (4.4 mi) is a short branch of SH-10 in Ottawa County. Its western terminus is at SH-10, and its eastern terminus is at the Missouri state line, north of Seneca, Missouri. It continues as Missouri Supplemental Route U which runs less than a mile before it ends at Route 43 north of Seneca, Missouri. The highway is relatively straight, though hilly, and no communities are located on the highway.

Junction list

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Osage	Bigheart	0.0	0.0	SH-99	Western terminus
Washington	Copan	23.1	37.2	US-75	Southern terminus of US-75 concurrency
		24.2	38.9	US-75	Northern terminus of US-75 concurrency
Nowata	Elliott	40.6	65.3	US-169	Northern terminus of US-169 concurrency
	Lenapah	45.1	72.6	US-169	Southern terminus of US-169 concurrency
Craig	Welch	76.9	123.8	US-59 / SH-2	Western terminus of US-59 concurrency
Ottawa	​	88.1	141.8	US-59 / US-69	Eastern terminus of US-59 concurrency, Western terminus of US-69 concurrency
	Miami	89.9	144.7	US-69 / SH-125	Eastern terminus of US-69 concurrency, northern terminus of SH-125
		91.3	146.9	I‑44 / Will Rogers Turnpike SH-69A	Southern terminus of SH-69A
	Ottawa	94.8	152.6	SH-137	Northern terminus of SH-137
	​	99.7	160.5	SH-10C	Western terminus of SH-10C
	Wyandotte	104.4	168.0	US-60	Northern terminus of US-60 concurrency
		104.9	168.8	US-60	Southern terminus of US-60 concurrency
Delaware	​	120.2	193.4	SH-25	Western terminus of SH-25
	Grove	123.5	198.8	US-59	Northern terminus of US-59 concurrency
	​	130.4	209.9	SH-127	Northern terminus of SH-127
	Jay	135.5	218.1	SH-20	Eastern terminus of SH-20 concurrency
	​	136.0	218.9	SH-127	Southern terminus of SH-127
	​	137.7	221.6	SH-20	Western terminus of SH-20 concurrency
	​	150.6	242.4	SH-116
	Kansas	154.4	248.5	US-412 / Cherokee Turnpike	Diamond interchange
		154.9	249.3	US-59 / US-412 Alt.	Southern terminus of US-59 concurrency
Adair	No major junctions
Cherokee	​	180.5	290.5	US-62 / SH-51	Eastern terminus of US-62/SH-51 concurrency
	Tahlequah	182.4	293.5	SH-82	Northern terminus of SH-82 concurrency
		184.7	297.2	SH-51	Western terminus of SH-51 concurrency
	​	187.0	300.9	SH-82	Southern terminus of SH-82 concurrency
Muskogee	Fort Gibson	203.3	327.2	SH-80	Southern terminus of SH-80
	​	205.0	329.9	US-62	Southern terminus of US-62 concurrency
	​	223.3	359.4	SH-10A	Western terminus of SH-10A
Sequoyah	Gore	228.7	368.1	SH-100	Northern terminus of SH-100 concurrency
		229.0	368.5	US-64 / SH-100	Southern terminus of SH-100 concurrency, Northern terminus of US-64 concurrency
	​	231.6	372.7	US-64	Southern terminus of US-64 concurrency
	​	233.1	375.1	I‑40	Southern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

External links

• SH-10 at OKHighways
• OK-10 on Two Wheel Oklahoma