of U.S. 277 (and 281) through the City of Lawton via 2nd Street and 11th Street (and a diagonal street connecting those two streets) has been designated as U.S. 281 Business since the completion of Lawton's Pioneer Expressway (now I-44) in 1964 from present I-44 Exit 39-B to Exit 33. Present U.S. 281 Business and former U.S. 277-281 follows 2nd Street south of I-44 (Exit 39B) into the downtown area and south of Lee Boulevard (Oklahoma 7), curves into the diagonal route to 11th Street and still locally designated by the City of Lawton as Highway 277 even though it is officially designated as U.S. 281 Business. From the end of the diagonal route at 11th and Tennessee Avenue south past the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport to Exit 33 of Interstate 44, the former U.S. 277-281 and current U.S. Business 281 route follows 11th Street. South of this point, U.S. 281 Business ends/begins and current U.S. 277-281 continues to run concurrent with I-44 for another 3 miles to Exit 30 (the starting/ending point for the southern section of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike), bypassing 3 miles of the former U.S. 277-281 concurrency that followed 11th Street south of Lawton until the completion of the present I-44 route south of Lawton in 1964, when the former highway reverted to local jurisdiction. At Exit 31, Oklahoma 36 begins its route to Chattanooga and Grandfield west of I-44 while U.S. 277-281 uses the same route east of the interstate for a half-mile and turning south toward Geronimo, over the continuation of Lawton's 11th Street. History When US 277 was commissioned in 1930, it ended at the Mexico–United States border in Del Rio, Texas. It was extended southeast to its present terminus in 1952. The original northern terminus was in Oklahoma City at its intersection with parent route US 77 and US 62. The northern terminus remained there until 1964. when it was truncated to its present terminus following the completion of the H.E. Bailey Turnpike and the connecting US 62 freeway into Oklahoma City, which would become I-44 in the 1980s. The section of highway through Wichita Falls was recently upgraded to a freeway. Known as Kell Boulevard, the freeway opened in late-2009/early-2010. As of February 2010, US 277 allows a speed limit of only in Dimmit County, Texas. Major intersections Business U.S. Route 277 Wichita Falls, Texas Holliday, Texas Seymour, Texas Munday, Texas