Some sections of I-35 in Oklahoma City were already built in 1953 before the Interstate System was created. The Moore–Norman segment was originally a four-lane section of
US-77 built in 1951 that did not meet full
Interstate Highway standards and included several at-grade intersections within the City of Moore, including some with traffic signals, and upgraded accordingly to include grade separations to bring up to full Interstate Highway standards and frontage roads to serve local traffic needs. Also not up to full Interstate Highway standards prior to 1967 was a section in the vicinity of Lindsey Street in the southern portion of Norman where another at-grade intersection still existed which dated back to the original highway's construction in the early 1950s—this was also brought up to full Interstate Highway standards in 1967 with the construction of interchanges on I-35 at Lindsey and a short distance to the south for the future SH-9 bypass that would be built around the southern side of Norman in the early 1970s. Further south, I-35 was completed from Marietta south to the Red River bridge in 1963, at which point a nearly gap of uncompleted Interstate would exist between Purcell and Marietta until the late 1960s with traffic continuing to be routed over paralleling US-77. This was in large part due to efforts of the towns of
Wynnewood,
Paoli, and
Wayne fighting to keep I-35 as close as possible to US-77. This was successful due to a threat from Governor
Henry Bellmon to build a toll road rather than I-35, and legislation preventing state funds for the Interstate from being spent if it were more than from the U.S. Highway. The uncompleted gap of I-35 in Southern Oklahoma was narrowed in 1967 and 1968 when two sections were completed from
US-70/
SH-199 in Ardmore south to
SH-32 in Marietta. In 1969, the section of Interstate bypassing Ardmore was completed north from US-70 to
SH-142, and, the following year, 1970, brought the completion of I-35 from
SH-7 near Davis south to Ardmore, at long last bypassing the winding section of US-77 through the Arbuckle Mountains. This stretch through the Arbuckles was particularly expensive and difficult to construct, taking almost two years and requiring the blasting and removal of of rock. A few months later, in January 1971, I-35 was finally completed across the State of Oklahoma, when the remaining portions of the Interstate from Purcell to SH-7 near Davis were opened to traffic. In 2008,
ODOT announced plans to widen of I-35 through Norman, from the Main Street interchange (exit 109) to the McCall Bridge over the
Canadian River. Controversy surrounding the project arose when early drafts eliminated the
SH-74A/Lindsey Street interchange (exit 108B), due to its proximity to the
SH-9 interchange (exit 108A). A public meeting held in Norman attracted 300 attendees, many bearing "Don't Close Lindsey" signs. Attendees cited the impact on local businesses and those attending
University of Oklahoma football games as grounds for opposing the closure of the interchange. A former OU economics professor estimated the interchange's closure would cost Norman $100 million over the course of 15 years. At the meeting, four proposals were displayed, only one of which displayed no access from Lindsey Street. A second proposal would preserve access to Lindsey Street but require the seizure of a newly built
Chevrolet dealership near the interchange. The third proposal would instead send the ramps around the dealership, and the fourth, the highest-cost alternate, would use bridges to prevent Lindsey Street and SH-9 traffic from conflicting. ODOT said their design standards did not require consideration of OU football traffic, because they only considered the 30th highest traffic percentile. One ODOT engineer was quoted as saying, "Otherwise, we'd have to 10-lane everything in Norman." In 2014, ODOT completed reconstruction of the Main Street interchange as a
single-point urban interchange (SPUI) and widening of I-35 to just south of Main Street. In March 2015, ODOT began a two-year, $71 million project to reconstruct the Lindsey Street interchange as a SPUI, reconstruct the SH-9 interchange, and complete widening of I-35 to six lanes to the Canadian River. It was completed and opened in October 2017. In August 2018, construction began for a new bridge for Southwest 34th Street over I-35 in
Moore. The road had previously been unconnected due to sections on either side of I-35 ending at the frontage roads for the interstate. During the project, I-35 was briefly shut down after construction debris was blown off the bridge and onto the roadway on April 13, 2019. The overpass was not damaged; the debris blown off it was scaffolding and plywood. The bridge was completed and opened on November 21, 2019. In April 2019, a bill was passed that increased the speed limit from on segments of rural Interstates. On I-35, the speed limit would be increased from the
Texas state line to mile marker 90 near Purcell, and from just north of mile marker 147 near
Edmond to the
Kansas state line. All of the new signs were installed by the end of 2020. Following this, it was announced in February 2022 that the speed limit of the freeway would become from 89th Street in Oklahoma City to just south of the SH-9 West interchange in Goldsby. This change will make the speed limit consistent in the area, where it previously was not (some of the area had speed limits). All of the new signs were installed by the end of March. The I-35 and
SH-9 West interchange in
Goldsby was reconfigured into a
diverging diamond interchange in November 2025. The new design is expected to "accommodate large volumes of turning traffic by shifting traffic to the left side of a divided roadway through a series of coordinated signals for safer and more efficient left turns." ==Future==