Oklahoma Key Professionals

Biographical information on individuals who were involved in the design and construction of Route 66 in Oklahoma is difficult to find.

The Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture lists only Sydney Suggs, who was appointed by Gov. Lee Cruce in 1911 as Oklahoma's first Highway Commissioner, and Cyrus Stevens Avery, who served as a state highway commissioner under Gov. Martin Trapp, from 1922 through 1926.

John M. Page was chief engineer of the Oklahoma Highway Department in 1926, when U.S. Highway 66 was officially numbered. Avery had campaigned to name the route from Chicago to Santa Monica as U.S. 60, but after months of controversy within the Joint Board of Interstate Highways, at a meeting in Springfield, Missouri, with Avery and Bion Piepmeier, Missouri's chief engineer, Page suggested the number 66, which was accepted by all participants in the naming of U.S. highways. No biographical Information for Page was found in a diligent web search.

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture pages on Suggs and Avery can be accessed at:

         Sydney Suggs https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SU004

         Cyrus Stevens Avery https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entryname=CYRUS%20STEVENS%20AVERY

When Oklahoma was admitted to statehood in 1907, the state constitution established a framework for a highway department, but did not give the department any authority to oversee road construction, leaving this function to the counties and townships. The new highway department could only disburse funds for construction when these were available and to promote cooperation of local authorities as to routes, methods, and materials of highway construction. No changes came in this control procedure until the federal government passed the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. In 1917 the Oklahoma legislature appropriated its first matching funds to obtain federal highway money, but the highway department still had no authority to oversee the construction of roads. Local authorities still made all decisions about the spending of funds.

In 1921 congress modified the Federal Highway Act of 1916, calling for a system of interstate highways and advising states that if they wished to continue sharing in federal revenue they would have to designate specifically up to 7 percent of their roads to receive this aid. Oklahoma did not not immediately respond to the new federal program owing to the desire to continue the local control system.

Not until 1924 did the state finally pass legislation reorganizing the state highway department, giving the state highway department the power to construct roads throughout the state and to maintain these to federal standards where necessary. By the end of 1924 the state highway department was finally in a position with funding and specific powers to build a viable state highway system. By that time, a number of Federal Aid projects on the roads that were to become U.S. Highway 66 had been completed by the counties in which the roads were located. (Oklahoma Transportation: Construction History of Route 66  https://www.odot.org/memorial/route66/route66const-hist.htm


Reference:
ROUTE 66 IN OKLAHOMA: AN HISTORIC PRESERVATION SURVEY