| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74 |
| Established: | 1927 (as SH-44) Became SH-74 in 1931 |
| Map Custom: | yes |
| Map Notes: | SH-74 highlighted in red, suffixed routes in blue |
| Direction A: | South |
| Direction B: | North |
| Length Mi1: | 52.5 |
| Terminus A1: | near Tatums |
| Junction1: |
|
| Terminus B1: | in Goldsby |
| Length Mi2: | 91.5 |
| Terminus A2: | in Bethany |
| Junction2: |
|
| Terminus B2: | west of Deer Creek |
| Previous Type: | SH |
| Previous Route: | 73 |
| Next Type: | US |
| Next Route: | 75 |
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 City to more rural parts of the state. The original road stretched from SH-7 near Tatums to SH-11 west of Deer Creek.
Due to encroaching Interstate highways—especially Interstate 35 (I-35)—the middle section of the route through Norman, Moore, and Oklahoma City was decommissioned in 1979 for reasons of redundancy. However, some maps show SH-74 as running concurrently with I-35, I-240, and I-44, thus linking the two sections.
The north section of the route is NaNmiles in length, while the southern section is NaNmiles long. This leads to a total length of 144miles.
From the southern terminus at SH-7, the southern section of SH-74 goes due north to Elmore City, where it intersects with SH-29. After a couple of turns in the Elmore City area, the highway continues due north to Maysville and SH-19. Still continuing northward, the highway meets the southern terminus of SH-24, and continues into Purcell.
In Purcell, SH-74 overlaps U.S. Highway 77 (US-77) and SH-39. It finally splits off and begins heading west. From here, the highway becomes more hilly and curvy as it heads toward Washington. The road never actually enters Washington, passing just 1miles[1] north of it. However, Washington is accessible via SH-24, which has its northern terminus at SH-74 as well. (Both termini of SH-24 are at SH-74.)
The highway then returns to a due north course after its intersection with SH-24. It goes through the town of Goldsby and then ends at I-35.
The highway's northern section begins at a combination interchange with I-44 in Bethany. The first part of the northern section is a freeway, called the Lake Hefner Parkway because part of it runs along the east shore of Lake Hefner. The freeway, a major part of the Oklahoma City freeway system, serves the northwestern part of Oklahoma City. The freeway ends at 164th Street, and SH-74 continues northward on Portland Avenue.
The road passes through the towns of Crescent, Covington, and Garber, Oklahoma as it continues, again on a due north course. Between Covington and Garber the road intersects with US-64/US-412, which can be used to access Enid, just 14miles[2] to the west.
20miles[2] north of US-412, the highway meets US-60 near Lamont. The two roads share a brief concurrency before splitting off again. 8miles[2] north of this, SH-74 intersects with SH-11 between Deer Creek and Numa, Oklahoma. It is at this intersection that the designation ends.
In 1927, a spur from SH-33 to Crescent was created as SH-44.[3] SH-44 was renumbered to SH-74 in 1931.[4] On December 10, 1934, SH-74 was extended southward to Oklahoma City.[5] The highway was further extended on September 9, 1935, to Norman.[5] 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[6] (now SH-164) in Covington.[5] 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.[5] The section of highway from Covington to US-60 in Lamont was added on April 14, 1941.[5] On June 5, 1945, it was extended further south to SH-29 in Elmore City (at the time simply named Elmore).[5]
Throughout the 1950s, SH-74 continued to be realigned and extended. Southwest of Norman, it swapped routings with SH-9 on December 6, 1954.[5] SH-74 was extended twice in 1957, once in each direction: to the north on February 18 and to the south on June 10.[5] The 1957 lengthening brought SH-74 to its greatest length, with its present-day northern terminus and a southern terminus at SH-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.[5] The southern section was truncated on December 12, 1974, bringing the highway to its current southern terminus.[5] 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.[5]
The Lake Hefner Parkway opened in 1992. SH-74 was transferred to the new freeway on April 6.[5] 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.[7] The freeway was extended from its former terminus just north of the Kilpatrick Turnpike to 164th Street in 2016.
SH-74 currently has five spur routes (starting at B, and going up to a suffix of F). Prior to 2009, SH-74A served as a spur route in Norman as well, though it did not intersect SH-74.
| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74A |
| Length Mi: | 2.76 |
| Location: | Norman |
| Formed: | September 23, 1936 |
SH-74A ran along Lindsey Street in Norman, connecting I-35 to Classen Boulevard, the contemporary routing of US-77. This highway ran straight through the University of Oklahoma (OU) campus. It was 2.76miles long.
SH-74A was established by action of the Highway Commission on September 23, 1936. The highway's original extent was from SH-9/SH-74 (24th Avenue S.W.) to the OU campus, ending at Jenkins Avenue.[8] It was later extended to I-35 in the west and US-77 in the east. It was removed by January 2010.
| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74B |
| Length Mi: | 9.95 |
| Location: | McClain County |
SH-74B connects SH-74 in Goldsby to SH-76 south of Blanchard. Cole lies along the middle of this hilly spur.
| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74C |
| Length Mi: | 11.59 |
| Location: | Logan County |
SH-74C connects SH-74 in Crescent to US-77 north of Guthrie.
| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74D |
| Established: | ? |
| Decommissioned: | March 5, 2018 |
| Yr Ref: | [9] |
| Length Mi: | 2.76 |
| Location: | Lovell |
SH-74D connected SH-74 to the unincorporated community of Lovell. It was eliminated from the state highway system on March 5, 2018.[9]
| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74E |
| Length Mi: | 4.98 |
| Location: | Marshall |
SH-74E goes from SH-51 north to Marshall, and then it goes east and ends at SH-74. This spur was commissioned on August 6, 1951.[5]
| State: | OK |
| Type: | SH |
| Route: | 74F |
| Length Mi: | 8.05 |
| Location: | Cashion |
SH-74F goes from SH-74 west to Cashion, and then goes north to SH-33.