• Road correspondent Mark Potter reports that the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, N.M., has been returned to its original 1939 color scheme of blue. For many years, the motel was mostly of a coral color.
• Folks in Springfield, Mo., who are fighting the proposed relocation of Missouri 266, aka Route 66, in their town have set up an online pledge drive at Hwy266.com
• For Lincoln Highway fans, WQED producer Rick Sebak and two other cohorts are writing a blog while traveling and compiling information for a PBS program.
• Road warrior Tim Steil was a guest co-host last week on the Dave & Chris Show on Perfectly Harmless Radio. Here, you can listen to him talk about his Route 66 and Route 61 adventures.

I didn’t know this was going to happen, but new gate to Oklahoma’s Turner Turnpike, set to be finished sometime in 2009, should improve access to the Route 66 towns of Luther and Arcadia, reports the Daily Oklahoman.

The new gates will be built here (map link), with access to Triple XXX Road, 164th Street and Hogback Road about two miles southwest of Luther.

Triple XXX Road would link to Route 66 about two miles north of the new turnpike exit. I’m uncertain whether Triple XXX is a paved, gravel or dirt road, however.

When I first heard that access was going to be built in that area, my first thought was Aubrey McClendon. He’s the CEO of Chesapeake Energy who’s bought a lot of land in that area, has a big tree business in Arcadia and recently opened POPS on Route 66 there. Improved turnpike access would undoubtedly help his businesses there.

However, Luther is also growing from the sprawl of the Oklahoma City area, and the powers-that-be likely saw that the murmurs of demand from commuters for better turnpike access would soon become shouts.

Currently, the only turnpike access to Luther or Arcadia is to exit at Wellston and drive west on Oklahoma 66. Luther is nearly 10 miles away, and Arcadia nearly 15.