Home > OK > Narcissa >

Sidewalk Highway / Ribbon Road

Between Narcissa and Afton, OK
Phone:

East < GO > West

To get to the south section of the Ribbon Road when leaving Narcissa you go about 5 miles south on Hwy 59/60/69 to E 200 Rd (at the Tech Center) then turn west to S 520 Rd and turn south to Hwy 59/60/69 again. This is an easy turn to miss, so watch for the turnpike bridge seen in this photo and turn west at the intersection just before it.

GPS: 36.728592, -94.927492

The old pavement starts about 1/4 mile west of this intersection. You won't have any trouble knowing when you start driving on the old road ... bumpity, bumpity, bump, bump! This section of the old pavement is only about 2.75 miles long.

This is where you take the rounded corner to turn south onto S 520 across from the white rail fence. This is the last corner on the Ribbon Road. You might have noticed that the road names along the Ribbon Road are sequential, 540, 530, 520 etc. Each of the roads is a mile apart and they follow section lines. A "section" is a one mile square piece of land and the "section lines" are the edges of a section.

There is a pair of "S" curves that take you up and across a bridge over the turnpike. These "S" curves and the bridge are not part of the original road.

Shortly after you cross the turnpike bridge you cross a set of trail tracks and then soon come to the stop sign at Hwy 69. Cross Hwy 69 and curve right on the last little bit of the Ribbon Rd and the Will Rogers Highway Marker.

The inscription on the front of the marker reads as follows:

In 1922 a new nine-foot-wide Roadway was completed between Miami and Afton, OK. Because no standards existed and so few roads were paved, its width was not unusual for the era. It consisted of a concrete base and edges with a surface of rock asphalt. In 1926 the "Sidewalk Highway", as it would be known, was adopted by US 66.

Rt. 66 was paved piecemeal from 1926-1937. Since the Miami-to-Afton section was paved it became the last segment upgraded to the standards established in 1930. It was also realigned and included a new bridge on the Neosho River.

On Sept. 13, 1937, the opening of the bridge completed the last segment of RT. 66 paving in Oklahoma. The "Sideway Highway" thus became one of the the early stretches of Mother Road paving to be bypassed and today is the only Rt 66 roadway of its type in existence.

"Columbus discovered a new World, but the old Tin Lizzie has made us discover America" Will Rogers.

Erected by the Oklahoma RT 66 Assoc.

And that's where what's left of the the famous "Sidewalk Highway" ends!

Photo(s): 2013