Oklahoma City's New Route 66 Signs Are a Map of Where the Road Kept Moving

During the week of September 17, the city was installing four 16-foot Route 66 signs that light from inside. They went in at NW 32nd and Classen, Britton Road and Classen, NW 39th and Barnes, and NW 43rd and Western. Two more were already standing from the past year, one at NW 23rd and Hudson in Uptown and one on NW 39th Expressway just east of the historic Lake Overholser bridge. That makes six in Oklahoma City.

Put all six on a map and they don't fall along a single line. Britton Road is miles north of NW 23rd, and Western Avenue and Classen Boulevard run side by side through much of the north side. The scatter has a reason. Route 66 changed course through this city again and again between 1926 and 1979, and the monuments sit in the districts those different versions passed through. Drive to all six and you're tracing that history.

A road that moved as the city grew

The city's own history of the highway lays out the first version. In 1926, Route 66 came in from the northeast on N. Kelley Avenue and went south to what was then Grand Boulevard, now I-44. It jogged west for about half a mile, then turned south on Lincoln Boulevard to the State Capitol. From there it went west on NW 23rd Street, north and northwest on Classen Boulevard to NW 39th, and west on 39th out of town toward Bethany. That routing lasted until the first realignment in 1930.

After that, the changes kept coming. Visit OKC's alignment guide lists a City 66 that went from 23rd to Western Avenue between 1930 and 1933, then out to May Avenue from 1933 on. A separate Beltline 66 used Britton Road and Western Avenue from 1931 to 1936, picked up Classen from 1936 to 1953, and ran Britton to May from 1947 to 1953. The Beltline was dropped in 1953. In 1954, the 23rd-to-May-to-39th route became Business 66.

The city describes those alignments as having "meandered over time as the city grew and demands for the road changed." The new monuments let you see that meandering from the street.

Starting on the stretch every City 66 shared

NW 23rd is the one stretch the guide puts on City 66 in every version from 1926 to 1954, and it stayed on the Business 66 route that replaced City 66 after that, so the Uptown sign at Hudson is a natural first stop. Within a few blocks, the Uptown 23rd directory lists Cheever's Café at 2409 N Hudson Ave, Big Truck Tacos at 530 NW 23rd St, and Bunker Club at 433 NW 23rd St. Tower Theatre is next door to Bunker Club at 425 NW 23rd St, and it's still a working live-music venue. TravelOK lists "Straight Tequila Night: '90s Country Tribute" there on October 3.

If you want to add the east end of 23rd, Florence's Restaurant at 1437 NE 23rd St quietly reopened in June after more than a year closed for repairs. The work included a new roof, kitchen equipment, booths, lighting, and a patio pergola. It sits east of Lincoln, so it's a side trip from the documented route rather than a stop on it. The Oklahoman listed hours of 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Classen, the 1926 turn north

West on 23rd, the 1926 route turned onto Classen. The triangular brick Milk Bottle Grocery, with its bottle on the roof, still stands at 2426 N Classen Blvd. The National Park Service lists it as a historic Route 66 site.

A few blocks north is the Asian District monument at NW 32nd. The district directory lists Café Kacao at 3325 N Classen Blvd and Fung's Kitchen at 3231 N Classen Blvd, both a short walk from the sign.

Timing helps this weekend. The Asian District Cultural Association's Asian Night Market Festival runs October 2 and 3, from 5 to 11 p.m. both nights, on Classen Boulevard between NW 23rd and NW 27th. The national Route 66 Centennial calendar lists it as an official centennial event, with performances, vendors, food, and family activities. So the stretch of Classen the road used in 1926 hosts a centennial festival on the first weekend of October.

The Beltline signs up north

The monuments at NW 43rd and Western and at Britton and Classen are on the Beltline, which the 1930s and 1940s used to send traffic around the north side. From 1931 to 1936 it went from Britton Road to Western Avenue and down Western to 39th. From 1936 to 1953 it added Classen, and it was dropped entirely in 1953.

According to the Western Avenue Association, its district has more than 50 shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops, so you'll have plenty of options near the 43rd Street sign.

The Britton sign has a tight cluster of stops right around it. The Britton District association and Visit OKC list Woodworks Distilling Co. at 912 W Britton Rd, Burger Punk at 915 W Britton Rd, and El Coyote at 925 W Britton Rd. Those three addresses face each other on a single block of the old Beltline.

Heading west on 39th, the way the original route left town

The 1926 route left Oklahoma City on NW 39th Street. The 39th St. District association uses the Route 66 name for its area, and its new monument is at Barnes Avenue.

Farther west is the sign on NW 39th Expressway, just east of the Lake Overholser bridge. The National Park Service page for the bridge, updated in April 2026, says it carries local traffic as part of North Overholser Drive. RIVERSPORT's Lake Overholser Boathouse sits just south of the bridge, and its Trailhead Cafe serves drinks and snacks. The boathouse is open on weekends through October 18. That gives you about three weekends to end the drive with a coffee by the water.

Who made the signs, and how many are out there

All four new monuments were paid for with MAPS 4 beautification money, at a cost of $132,000 for the set. They're part of the Route 66 Centennial Monument Project, which the city calls the first national monument covering all of Route 66. Thirty-two had been installed from Illinois to California as of the city's September 17 announcement, with more planned.

The national project has a local source too. The signs were created by Oklahoma City-based VOX Audio Visual, with OKC artist Stan Carroll working on the design. GS Signs, an OKC sign manufacturer, builds and installs them across the country.

"The Route 66 Monuments are striking and impossible to miss, and they are fitting landmarks for the Mother Road as it passes through OKC," Mayor David Holt said.

The big monuments add to the 200 smaller Route 66 signs city crews put up in 2021 to help people follow the various alignments. The city's own announcement says the four new signs were still being installed that week and gives no dedication date. If you drive by after dark, the lighting may or may not be on yet.

Two more centennial stops this fall

These aren't on the monument route, but both fit the same outing:

• "Kicks 66." This 35-foot red boot by Cameron Eagle stands in the east parking lot of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 NE 63rd St. It's open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. year-round.
• "On The Road Of Dreams." This free show of screen prints by Jeremy Fish opens at Little D Gallery, 3003 A Paseo, with a reception on Friday, October 2, from 6 to 9 p.m. The centennial calendar listing says the show runs through October.

About the birthday itself: the city dates Route 66 to November 11, 1926. The national highway system became federal law that November, and the Oklahoma State Highway Commission officially designated U.S. Highway 66 in Oklahoma on December 7, 1926. The Oklahoma Route 66 Association's list of known events puts its November 11 Birthday Bash and Veterans Day Parade in Tulsa, and the association says it updates the list as new events come in. Nothing in Oklahoma City itself is listed for that date yet.

If your street is on one of these old routes, whether Classen, Western, Britton, or 23rd, you already know the city has been building along it for a hundred years. If you're curious what your piece of that history is worth today, Andrea Chambers would love to help. Get your free home valuation, and ask her about your corner of the Mother Road.