Jefferson Highway bill heading to Senate floor, 100th Anniversary of Oklahoma ratifying 19th Amendment

Oklahoma State Senate
Senator Micheal Bergstrom

Senate District 1

3/7/2020

Capitol Considerations by Senator Micheal Bergstrom

Recognizing the historic Jefferson Highway route

I passed Senate Bill 1884 out of the Senate Transportation Committee a couple weeks ago, which would designate a route that generally follows State Highway 69 in Oklahoma from the Kansas to Texas borders as the historic Jefferson Highway route.

While many people think Route 66 is the oldest highway to pass through our state, it is actually the Jefferson Highway, which runs north and south through Oklahoma and pre-dates Route 66 by nearly a decade.

The historic Jefferson Highway was one of the earliest automobile highways in the country and originally ran from Winnipeg, Canada, to New Orleans, spanning more than 2,300 miles.

Oklahoma is the only state to have the Jefferson Highway and Route 66 spanning it.

Under SB 1884, funding for highway signage would be provided by private sources, and the Department of Transportation would install available signage as designated. The cool thing about the Jefferson Highway is that it actually runs through many of our communities, often small towns, by turning down main thoroughfares including historic downtown districts. By promoting this iconic route, we hope to increase tourism and economic development in our communities. Rep. Avery Frix from Muskogee is the House author for this measure and I’m enjoying working with him to promote this highway.

The bill heads to the floor this week.

The Senate recognized a major milestone in our state’s history last week. February 28^th marked the 100^th anniversary of Oklahoma becoming the 33^rd state to ratify the 19^th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Interestingly enough, Oklahoma actually gave women the right to vote two years before suffrage was approved nationally.

My colleagues and I adopted Senate Resolution 13 to celebrate this event, which was authored by Senator Kim David of Porter and Senator Kay Floyd of Oklahoma City. Both of these ladies made history when they became the first women since statehood to hold the posts of Majority and Minority Leaders.

The next two weeks will be busy on the Senate floor as we vote on legislation. If there is anything I can help you with, please feel free to reach out to me. You can contact my office at 405-521-5561 or email me at Micheal.Bergstrom@oksenate.gov. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

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