to Ardmore. Ironically, the Lake serves as both
Commuting Patterns in the Texoma Region
OKLAHOMA CITY
a common feature and
(US Census Bureau, 2000)
asset that brings the
Map 3
region together and a
35
Ada
physical barrier separating residents
4,000 Commuters 2,000 Commuters
Ardmore 70
and businesses on the two sides of the Red
500 Commuters
75 70
< 500 Commuters 82 82
Sherman
River. 35
The Texoma
75
region’s northern counties—Garvin,
0
DALLAS
30 Miles
Pontotoc, Coal and Atoka—do not possess so clearly defined commuting patterns. Garvin County is beginning to demonstrate the influence of Oklahoma City’s growth as roughly two percent of the county’s population commutes northward on I-35. There also appears to be modest levels of commuting into the Ada area, both from Seminole and Hughes Counties. Sparsely populated, Coal County has only 6,000 residents, but over five percent of the county’s population commutes into the Ada area. Atoka County’s commuters, meanwhile, are more likely to work in Bryan County. In the Texas counties, Sherman-Denison draws significant commuters from the surrounding counties particularly from Bryan County in Oklahoma and Fannin County in Texas. Even though some East-West commuting patterns exist between the three Texas counties, the North-South patterns
Texoma Sub-Regions Map 4
along US-75 and I-35
I-35 Corridor Sub-region
clearly dominate. The most significant flows of workers commute
US 75 Corridor Sub-region
Denton, and there are growing commuter flows
Murray Ardmore
Carter
Johnston
Atoka
Atoka
Marshall
0
30 Miles
Bryan
Love Durant Denison
These data are drawn More recent data, were
Coal
Tishomingo
directly to Dallas County. from the 2000 Census.
South Central Oklahoma Sub-region
Pontotoc
Garvin
southward from Grayson to Collin and Cooke to
Ada
Pauls Valley
Gainesville
Cooke
Sherman
Grayson
Bonham
Fannin
Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness
5