Oklahoma Highway 66: Tulsa to Bristow

Take a journey through the storied hills and small towns of northeastern Oklahoma as we follow Oklahoma Highway 66 westbound from Tulsa to Bristow. This 31-mile stretch traces much of the original Route 66 alignment, offering a compelling blend of suburban transition, small-town Americana, and rural nostalgia that echoes the golden age of cross-country motoring.

We begin in southwest Tulsa, where Oklahoma Highway 66 peels away from Interstate 44 near the Red Fork District—a historic neighborhood that was once a hub for oilfield development and rail activity. As we leave the city limits behind, Tulsa’s suburban fringe gives way to more open space, with tree-lined shoulders and glimpses of aging motels and diners that once catered to Mother Road travelers. The road carries us through Oakhurst and into Sapulpa, a town long associated with brick manufacturing and early highway history. Here, Route 66 fans will appreciate how the alignment slows to a more deliberate pace, threading through neighborhoods and past preserved structures from a bygone era. At one point, we even share the route with U.S. Highway 75 Alternate as the highway carves through Sapulpa’s modest downtown.

Exiting Sapulpa, the landscape shifts. We’re briefly rewarded with a preserved segment of the original Route 66—narrower, curvier, and shaded by thick foliage. This part of the journey is especially evocative of the road’s early days, when travelers wound their way across America in Studebakers and Hudsons, their tires clattering over narrow bridges and gently undulating blacktop. Between Sapulpa and Depew, the old highway deviates from the modern route, allowing us to experience a truly vintage ride. This stretch runs adjacent to Rock Creek and is one of the most beloved in Creek County by Route 66 historians and photographers alike.

Rejoining the main alignment near Oklahoma Highway 33, the road opens back up to a more conventional rural highway experience. We continue westward with open pastureland to the south and wooded ridgelines to the north, passing relics like abandoned service stations, hand-painted signs, and roadside cabins now overtaken by nature. Traffic thins and the horizon stretches wider as we near Bristow. A short detour near E-0770 Road shifts us briefly off the old road, but it isn’t long before we’re back on course, approaching town from the north.

Our drive concludes at the intersection of Main Street and 4th Street in downtown Bristow, a community once hailed as the “Woodland Queen of the Creek Nation.” Bristow still bears traces of its Route 66 heyday, from the restored Bristow Motor Company building to quaint storefronts that echo the town’s early 20th-century aspirations. In this final stretch, the journey offers a gentle reminder: even as time rolls on and the interstates pull traffic away, towns like Bristow and roads like OK-66 keep the spirit of the open road alive—one story, one mile at a time.

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