‘Donald Trump Highway’ proposed
US 287 may be named for former president
Oklahoma’s GOP-led Legislature is pushing to name a stretch of highway in the Panhandle after former President Donald Trump.
The Oklahoma House on Thursday approved legislation to name a roughly 20-mile stretch of U.S. 287 the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”
Republican lawmakers slipped two
paragraphs about the highway into the Oklahoma Senate’s omnibus bridge and highway naming bill, in which lawmakers typically seek to memorialize notable Oklahomans.
Where would it be located?
The proposed Trump highway would stretch from Boise City to the Oklahoma-Texas border in Cimarron County. Republican lawmakers who support the provision plan to pay for signage to display the highway’s name.
On the House floor, Republicans quickly quashed questions from Democrats and steamrolled through debate on the bill that returns to the Senate. Rep. Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, tried to amend the legislation to remove the portion about Trump highway, but was unsuccessful.
In 2019, Sens. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, and Marty Quinn, R-Claremore, tried to name a portion of Route 66 after the then-president. But the proposal faced immediate pushback from both sides of the aisle as Oklahomans condemned the politicization of the Mother Road.
Typically, naming roads or bridges after notable presidents occurs once a president is out of office and their legacy becomes more clear. Oklahoma has bridges named after Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and George W. Bush and a highway named after Lyndon Johnson.
Earlier this week, Ohio Republicans pushed to rename a park after Trump.