Toll roads in OK
Will be traveling home from MN with our new fiver next week. We live just outside San Antonio. I would love to take the interstates but looks like in OK they are tolls. I am coming from Kansas City on...
Forum Discussion
If you use I-35, the toll road will be through Kansas. I-35 out of Kansas City gets routed on to the Kansas Turnpike at Emporia and is toll from there to the Oklahoma state line. No tolls on I-35 through Oklahoma. That would be a more direct route than coming down I-49 to something across Oklahoma.
I-44 is toll road most of the way through Oklahoma, if you are thinking of going to Wichita Falls then down US-281 through Texas. It is possible to avoid the turnpike sections entirely by using old Route 66 from the NE corner of Oklahoma to Oklahoma City, then US-277 from OKC to Wichita Falls. You'll still need to use the non-toll sections of I-44 to get through Tulsa, OKC, Lawton and the last few miles into Wichita Falls. I've driven all of these sections, and for each of the three Turnpikes bypassed, my driving time has pretty much doubled.
Or you could continue south from I-49 out of KC following US-71/I-49/I-540 down to I-40 at Fort Smith, I-40 to I-35 in OKC. I've not done that because coming from KC that isn't anywhere near my destination. Headed toward Tulsa from KC I will take I-35 to either US-169 or US-75. Going to Wichita (or OKC) I always take I-35, start paying the toll at Emporia.
FWIW, I'm sort of impartial to tolls. Often, from Chicago to south-central Michigan, I'll take the Indiana Toll Road to I-69, instead of I-94, because the traffic on I-94 gets crazy and the road surface in many places is a wreck.
I-44 is toll road most of the way through Oklahoma, if you are thinking of going to Wichita Falls then down US-281 through Texas. It is possible to avoid the turnpike sections entirely by using old Route 66 from the NE corner of Oklahoma to Oklahoma City, then US-277 from OKC to Wichita Falls. You'll still need to use the non-toll sections of I-44 to get through Tulsa, OKC, Lawton and the last few miles into Wichita Falls. I've driven all of these sections, and for each of the three Turnpikes bypassed, my driving time has pretty much doubled.
Or you could continue south from I-49 out of KC following US-71/I-49/I-540 down to I-40 at Fort Smith, I-40 to I-35 in OKC. I've not done that because coming from KC that isn't anywhere near my destination. Headed toward Tulsa from KC I will take I-35 to either US-169 or US-75. Going to Wichita (or OKC) I always take I-35, start paying the toll at Emporia.
FWIW, I'm sort of impartial to tolls. Often, from Chicago to south-central Michigan, I'll take the Indiana Toll Road to I-69, instead of I-94, because the traffic on I-94 gets crazy and the road surface in many places is a wreck.
