U.S.

Route 66
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"Main Street of America" redirects here. For other uses, see Main Street, America.

U.S. Route 66
Will Rogers Memorial Highway

Route information

Length 2,448 mi (3,940 km)

Existed November 26, 1926[1] – June 26, 1985[2]

Tourist Historic Route 66

routes

Major intersections (in 1947)[3]

West end
US 101 Alt. in Santa Monica, Cal.

 US 6 / US 99 / US 101 in Los Angeles,

Cal.
 US 91 / US 395 in San Bernardino, Cal.
 US 89 from Ash Fork to Flagstaff, Ariz.
 US 85 in Albuquerque, N.M.
 US 60 / US 87 / US 287 in Amarillo,
Tex.
 US-81 in El Reno, Okla.
 US-64 in Tulsa, Okla.
 US 71 from Joplin to Carthage, Mo.
 US 40 / US 50 / US 61 in St. Louis,
Mo.
 US 51 in Normal, Ill.

East end US 41 / US 54 in Chicago, Ill.

 Location

States California, Arizona, New

Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois

Highway system

 United States Numbered Highway System

 List
 Special
 Divided
 Replaced

U.S. Route 66 (US 66 or Route 66), also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street
of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway
System. US 66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following
year.[4] The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally
ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico,
and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles
(3,940 km).[5] It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route
66" and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.
US 66 served as a major path for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of
the 1930s, and the road supported the economies of the communities through which it passed.
People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the
highway, and those same people later fought to keep the highway alive in the face of the growing
threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.
US 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, and it was
officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985,[2] after it had been replaced in
its entirety by segments of the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed
through Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico, and Arizona have been designated a National Scenic
Byway of the name "Historic Route 66", which is returning to some maps.[6][7] Several states
have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into the state road network

History[edit]

Lengths (1926 alignment)

mi[8] km

California 314 505

Arizona 401 645

Lengths (1926 alignment)

mi[8] km

New Mexico 487 784

Texas 186 299

Oklahoma 432 695

Kansas 13 21

Missouri 317 510

Illinois 301 484

Total 2,448 3,940

Before the U.S. Highway System[edit]

A remnant of an original state right-of-way marker serves as a reminder of the early days of the road's
construction. This was part of the 1927 construction of US 66.
In 1857, Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, a Naval officer in the service of the U.S. Army Corps of
Topographical Engineers, was ordered by the War Department to build a government-funded
wagon road along the 35th Parallel. His secondary orders were to test the feasibility of the use
of camels as pack animals in the southwestern desert. This road became part of US 66.[9]
Parts of the original Route 66 from 1913, prior to its official naming and commissioning, can still
be seen north of the Cajon Pass. The paved road becomes a dirt road, south of Cajon, which
was also the original Route 66.[10]
Before a nationwide network of numbered highways was adopted by the states, named auto
trails were marked by private organizations. The route that would become US 66 was covered by
three highways. The Lone Star Route passed through St. Louis on its way
from Chicago to Cameron, Louisiana, though US 66 would take a shorter route
through Bloomington rather than Peoria. The transcontinental National Old Trails Road led via St.
Louis to Los Angeles, but was not followed until New Mexico; instead US 66 used one of the
main routes of the Ozark Trails system,[11] which ended at the National Old Trails Road just south
of Las Vegas, New Mexico. Again, a shorter route was taken, here following the Postal Highway
between Oklahoma City and Amarillo. Finally, the National Old Trails Road became the rest of
the route to Los Angeles.[12]
While legislation for public highways first appeared in 1916, with revisions in 1921, it was not until
Congress enacted an even more comprehensive version of the act in 1925 that the government
executed its plan for national highway construction. The original inspiration for a roadway
between Chicago and Los Angeles was planned by entrepreneurs Cyrus Avery of Tulsa,
Oklahoma, and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri. The pair lobbied the American
Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) for the creation of a route following the 1925
plans.[13]
From the outset, public road planners intended US 66 to connect the main streets of rural and
urban communities along its course for the most practical of reasons: most small towns had no
prior access to a major national thoroughfare.

Birthplace and rise of US 66[edit]

The route sign from 1926 to 1948

The numerical designation 66 was assigned to the Chicago-to-Los Angeles route on April 30,
1926,[13] in Springfield, Missouri. A placard in Park Central Square was dedicated to the city by
the Route 66 Association of Missouri,[14] and traces of the "Mother Road" are still visible in
downtown Springfield along Kearney Street, Glenstone Avenue, College, and St. Louis streets
and on Route 266 to Halltown, Missouri.[15]
Championed by Avery when the first talks about a national highway system began, US 66 was
first signed into law in 1927 as one of the original U.S. Highways, although it was not completely
paved until 1938. Avery was adamant that the highway have a round number and had proposed
number 60 to identify it. A controversy erupted over the number 60, largely from delegates
from Kentucky who wanted a Virginia Beach–Los Angeles highway to
be US 60 and US 62 between Chicago and Springfield, Missouri.[16] Arguments and
counterarguments continued throughout February, including a proposal to split the proposed
route through Kentucky into Route 60 North (to Chicago) and Route 60 South (to Newport
News).[17] The final conclusion was to have US 60 run between Virginia Beach, Virginia, and
Springfield, Missouri, and the Chicago–L.A. route be US 62.[18] Avery and highway engineer John
Page settled on "66," which was unassigned, because he thought the double-digit number would
be easy to remember as well as pleasant to say and hear. Both Avery and Page also appreciated
the number 66's use in numerology as a master number bringing material pleasure and
success.[19]
The state of Missouri released its 1926 state highway map with the highway labeled as US 60.[20]
After the new federal highway system was officially created, Cyrus Avery called for the
establishment of the U.S. Highway 66 Association to promote the complete paving of the
highway from end to end and to promote travel down the highway. In 1927, in Tulsa, the
association was officially established with John T. Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri, elected the
first president. In 1928, the association made its first attempt at publicity, the "Bunion Derby," a
footrace from Los Angeles to New York City, of which the path from Los Angeles to Chicago
would be on US 66.[21] The publicity worked: several dignitaries, including Will Rogers, greeted
the runners at certain points on the route. The race ended in Madison Square Garden, where the
$25,000 first prize (equal to $356,298 in 2017) was awarded to Andy Hartley Payne, a Cherokee
runner from Oklahoma. The U.S. Highway 66 Association also placed its first advertisement in
the July 16, 1932, issue of the Saturday Evening Post. The ad invited Americans to take US 66
to the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. A U.S. Highway 66 Association office in
Oklahoma received hundreds of requests for information after the ad was published.[22] The
association went on to serve as a voice for businesses along the highway until it disbanded in
1976.
Traffic grew on the highway because of the geography through which it passed. Much of the
highway was essentially flat and this made the highway a popular truck route. The Dust Bowl of
the 1930s saw many farming families, mainly from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Texas,
heading west for agricultural jobs in California. US 66 became the main road of travel for these
people, often derogatorily called "Okies" or "Arkies." During the Depression, it gave some relief to
communities located on the highway. The route passed through numerous small towns and, with
the growing traffic on the highway, helped create the rise of mom-and-pop businesses, such
as service stations, restaurants, and motor courts, all readily accessible to passing motorists.[23]

The Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi River was built to carry the growing traffic of US 66
around the city of St. Louis
Restored Magnolia gasoline station museum on Route 66 in Shamrock in Wheeler County, TX

Much of the early highway, like all the other early highways, was gravel or graded dirt. Due to the
efforts of the U.S. Highway 66 Association, US 66 became the first highway to be completely
paved in 1938. Several places were dangerous: more than one part of the highway was
nicknamed "Bloody 66" and gradually work was done to realign these segments to remove
dangerous curves. However, one section through the Black Mountains outside Oatman, Arizona,
was fraught with hairpin turns and was the steepest along the entire route, so much so that some
early travelers, too frightened at the prospect of driving such a potentially dangerous road, hired
locals to navigate the winding grade. The section remained as US 66 until 1953 and is still open
to traffic today as the Oatman Highway. Despite such hazards in some areas, US 66 continued
to be a popular route.[23]
Notable buildings include the art deco–styled U-Drop Inn, constructed in 1936 in Shamrock,
in Wheeler County east of Amarillo, Texas, listed on the National Register of Historic
Places.[24][25] A restored Magnolia fuel station is also located in Shamrock as well as Vega,
in Oldham County, west of Amarillo.[26]
During World War II, more migration west occurred because of war-related industries in
California. US 66, already popular and fully paved, became one of the main routes and also
served for moving military equipment. Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri was located near the
highway, which was locally upgraded quickly to a divided highway to help with military traffic.
When Richard Feynman was working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, he used to travel
nearly 100 miles (160 km) to visit his wife, who was dying of tuberculosis, in a sanatorium located
on US 66 in Albuquerque.[27]
In the 1950s, US 66 became the main highway for vacationers heading to Los Angeles. The road
passed through the Painted Desert and near the Grand Canyon. Meteor Crater in Arizona was
another popular stop. This sharp increase in tourism in turn gave rise to a burgeoning trade in all
manner of roadside attractions, including teepee-shaped motels, frozen
custard stands, Indiancurio shops, and reptile farms. Meramec Caverns near St. Louis, began
advertising on barns, billing itself as the "Jesse James hideout." The Big Texan advertised a free
72-ounce (2.0 kg) steak dinner to anyone who could consume the entire meal in one hour. It also
marked the birth of the fast-food industry: Red's Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri, site of
the first drive-throughrestaurant, and the first McDonald's in San Bernardino, California. Changes
like these to the landscape further cemented 66's reputation as a near-perfect microcosm of the
culture of America, now linked by the automobile.[23]

Changes in routing[edit]

Modern-day sign in New Mexico, along a section of Route 66 named a National Scenic Byway

Many sections of US 66 underwent major realignments.

In 1930, between the Illinois cities of Springfield and East St. Louis, US 66 was shifted farther
east to what is now roughly Interstate 55 (I-55). The original alignment followed the
current Illinois Route 4 (IL 4).[28]
From downtown St. Louis to Gray Summit, Missouri, US 66 originally went down Market Street
and Manchester Road, which is largely Route 100. In 1932, this route was changed and the
original alignment never viewed as anything more than temporary. The planned route was down
Watson Road, which is now Route 366 but Watson Road had not been completed yet.
In Oklahoma, from west of El Reno to Bridgeport, US 66 turned north to Calumet and then west
to Geary, then southwest across the South Canadian River over a suspension toll bridge into
Bridgeport. In 1933, a straighter cut-off route was completed from west of El Reno to one mile
(1.6 km) south of Bridgeport, crossing over a 38-span steel pony truss bridge over the South
Canadian River, bypassing Calumet and Geary by several miles.
From west of Santa Rosa, New Mexico, to north of Los Lunas, New Mexico, the road originally
turned north from current I-40 along much of what is now US 84 to near Las Vegas, New Mexico,
followed (roughly) I-25—then the decertified US 85 through Santa Fe and Albuquerque to Los
Lunas and then turned northwest along the present New Mexico State Road 6 (NM 6) alignment
to a point near Laguna. In 1937, a straight-line route was completed from west of Santa Rosa
through Moriarty and east–west through Albuquerque and west to Laguna. This newer routing
saved travelers as much as four hours of travel through New Mexico. According to legend, the
rerouting was done at the behest of Democratic Governor Arthur T. Hannett to punish the
Republican Santa Fe Ring, which had long dominated New Mexico out of Santa Fe.[29]
In 1940, the first freeway in Los Angeles was incorporated into US 66; this was the Arroyo Seco
Parkway, later known as the Pasadena Freeway; now again known as Arroyo Seco Parkway.[28]

Route 66 between Oatman and Kingman

In 1953, the Oatman Highway through the Black Mountains was completely bypassed by a new
route between Kingman, Arizona, and Needles, California;[28] by the 1960s, Oatman, Arizona,
was virtually abandoned as a ghost town.
Since the 1950s, as Interstates were being constructed, sections of US 66 not only saw the traffic
drain to them, but often the route number itself was moved to the faster means of travel. In some
cases, such as to the east of St. Louis, this was done as soon as the Interstate was finished to
the next exit. The displacement of US 66 signage to the new freeways, combined with
restrictions in the 1965 Highway Beautification Act that often denied merchants on the old road
access to signage on the freeway, became factors in the closure of many established US 66
businesses as travelers could no longer easily find or reach them.[30]
In 1936, US 66 was extended from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica to end at US 101
Alt., today the intersection of Olympic and Lincoln Boulevards. Even though there is a plaque
dedicating US 66 as the Will Rogers Highway placed at the intersection of Ocean Boulevard
and Santa Monica Boulevard, the highway never terminated there.
US 66 was rerouted around several larger cities via bypass or beltline routes to permit travelers
to avoid city traffic congestion. Some of those cities included Springfield, Illinois; St. Louis,
Missouri; Rolla, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; Joplin, Missouri; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The route was also a foundation for many chain stores back in the 1920s, sprouting up next to it
to increase business and sales.
Decline[edit]

Abandoned, fire-damaged Whiting Brothers gas station. All along the route, preservation efforts are under
way to preserve original buildings such as this.

An abandoned early US 66 alignment in central Illinois, 2006

The ghost town of Two Guns, Arizona, once featured a zoo, gift shop, restaurant, campground, gas station,
and "death cave".

The beginning of the decline for US 66 came in 1956 with the signing of the Interstate Highway
Act by President Dwight D. Eisenhower who was influenced by his experiences in 1919 as a
young Army officer crossing the country in a truck convoy (following the route of the Lincoln
Highway), and his appreciation of the autobahn network as a necessary component of a national
defense system.[31]
During its nearly 60-year existence, US 66 was under constant change. As highway engineering
became more sophisticated, engineers constantly sought more direct routes between cities and
towns. Increased traffic led to a number of major and minor realignments of US 66 through the
years, particularly in the years immediately following World War II when Illinois began widening
US 66 to four lanes through virtually the entire state from Chicago to the Mississippi River just
east of St. Louis, and included bypasses around virtually all of the towns. By the early to mid-
1950s, Missouri also upgraded its sections of US 66 to four lanes complete with bypasses. Most
of the newer four-lane 66 paving in both states was upgraded to freeway status in later years.
One of the remnants of US 66 is the highway now known as Veterans Parkway, east and south
of Normal, Illinois, and Bloomington, Illinois. The two sweeping curves on the southeast and
southwest of the cities originally were intended to easily handle traffic at speeds up to 100 miles
per hour (160 km/h), as part of an effort to make Illinois 66 an Autobahn equivalent for military
transport.
In 1953, the first major bypassing of US 66 occurred in Oklahoma with the opening of the Turner
Turnpike between Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The new 88-mile (142 km) toll road paralleled
US 66 for its entire length and bypassed each of the towns along 66. The Turner Turnpike was
joined in 1957 by the new Will Rogers Turnpike, which connected Tulsa with the Oklahoma-
Missouri border west of Joplin, Missouri, again paralleling US 66 and bypassing the towns in
northeastern Oklahoma in addition to its entire stretch through Kansas. Both Oklahoma turnpikes
were soon designated as I-44, along with the US 66 bypass at Tulsa that connected the city with
both turnpikes.
In some cases, such as many areas in Illinois, the new Interstate Highway not only paralleled the
old US 66, it actually used much of the same roadway. A typical approach was to build one new
set of lanes, then move one direction of traffic to it, while retaining the original road for traffic
flowing in the opposite direction. Then a second set of lanes for traffic flowing in the other
direction would be constructed, finally followed by abandoning the other old set of lanes or
converting them into a frontage road.
The same scenario was used in western Oklahoma when US 66 was initially upgraded to a four-
lane highway such as from Sayre through Erick to the Texas border at Texola in 1957 and 1958
where the old paving was retained for westbound traffic and a new parallel lane built for
eastbound traffic (much of this section was entirely bypassed by I-40 in 1975), and on two other
sections; from Canute to Elk City in 1959 and Hydro to Weatherford in 1960, both of which were
upgraded with the construction of a new westbound lane in 1966 to bring the highway up to full
interstate standards and demoting the old US 66 paving to frontage road status. In the initial
process of constructing I-40 across western Oklahoma, the state also included projects to
upgrade the through routes in El Reno, Weatherford, Clinton, Canute, Elk City, Sayre, Erick, and
Texola to four-lane highways not only to provide seamless transitions from the rural sections of I-
40 from both ends of town but also to provide easy access to those cities in later years after the
I-40 bypasses were completed.

The leaning water tower, east of Groom, TX, along I-40 (old US 66)

In New Mexico, as in most other states, rural sections of I-40 were to be constructed first with
bypasses around cities to come later. However, some business and civic leaders in cities along
US 66 were completely opposed to bypassing fearing loss of business and tax revenues. In
1963, the New Mexico Legislature enacted legislation that banned the construction of interstate
bypasses around cities by local request. This legislation was short-lived, however, due to
pressures from Washington and threat of loss of federal highway funds so it was rescinded by
1965. In 1964, Tucumcari and San Jonbecame the first cities in New Mexico to work out an
agreement with state and federal officials in determining the locations of their I-40 bypasses as
close to their business areas as possible in order to permit easy access for highway travelers to
their localities. Other cities soon fell in line including Santa
Rosa, Moriarty, Grants and Gallup although it wasn't until well into the 1970s that most of those
cities would be bypassed by I-40.
Old Route 66 near Amboy, CA

By the late 1960s, most of the rural sections of US 66 had been replaced by I-40 across New
Mexico with the most notable exception being the 40-mile (64 km) strip from the Texas border
at Glenrio west through San Jon to Tucumcari, which was becoming increasingly treacherous
due to heavier and heavier traffic on the narrow two-lane highway. During 1968 and 1969, this
section of US 66 was often referred to by locals and travelers as "Slaughter Lane" due to
numerous injury and fatal accidents on this stretch. Local and area business and civic leaders
and news media called upon state and federal highway officials to get I-40 built through the area;
however, disputes over proposed highway routing in the vicinity of San Jon held up construction
plans for several years as federal officials proposed that I-40 run some five to six miles (8 to
10 km) north of that city while local and state officials insisted on following a proposed route that
touched the northern city limits of San Jon. In November 1969, a truce was reached when federal
highway officials agreed to build the I-40 route just outside the city, therefore providing local
businesses dependent on highway traffic easy access to and from the expressway via the north–
south highway that crossed old US 66 in San Jon. I-40 was completed from Glenrio to the east
side of San Jon in 1976 and extended west to Tucumcari in 1981, including the bypasses around
both cities.

US 66, going to Oatman, AZ in 2007

Originally, highway officials planned for the last section of US 66 to be bypassed by interstates in
Texas, but as was the case in many places, lawsuits held up construction of the new interstates.
The US Highway 66 Association had become a voice for the people who feared the loss of their
businesses. Since the interstates only provided access via ramps at interchanges, travellers
could not pull directly off a highway into a business. At first, plans were laid out to allow mainly
national chains to be placed in interstate medians. Such lawsuits effectively prevented this on all
but toll roads. Some towns in Missouri threatened to sue the state if the US 66 designation was
removed from the road, though lawsuits never materialized. Several businesses were well known
to be on US 66, and fear of losing the number resulted in the state of Missouri officially
requesting the designation "Interstate 66" for the St. Louis to Oklahoma City section of the route,
but it was denied. In 1984, Arizona also saw its final stretch of highway decommissioned with the
completion of I-40 just north of Williams, Arizona. Finally, with decertification of the highway by
the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials the following year,
US 66 officially ceased to exist.
With the decommissioning of US 66, no single interstate route was designated to replace it. I-
55 covered the section from Chicago to St. Louis; I-44 carried the traffic on to Oklahoma City; I-
40 took the largest chunk, replacing 66 to Barstow, California; I-15 took over for the route to San
Bernardino; and I-210 and State Route 2 (SR 2) or I-10 carried the traffic of US 66 across the
Los Angeles metropolitan area to Santa Monica, and the seashore.

After decertification[edit]

"Sidewalk highway" section of US 66 near Miami, OK

When the highway was decommissioned, sections of the road were disposed of in various ways.
Within many cities, the route became a "business loop" for the interstate. Some sections became
state roads, local roads, private drives, or were abandoned completely. Although it is no longer
possible to drive US 66 uninterrupted all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles, much of the
original route and alternate alignments are still drivable with careful planning. Some stretches are
quite well preserved, including one between Springfield, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Some
sections of US 66 still retain their historic 9-foot-wide (2.7 m) "sidewalk highway" form,[32] never
having been resurfaced to make them into full-width highways. These old sections have a single,
paved lane, concrete curbs to mark the edge of the lane, and gravel shoulders for passing.
Some states have kept the 66 designation for parts of the highway, albeit as state roads. In
Missouri, Routes 366, 266, and 66 are all original sections of the highway. State Highway
66 (SH-66) in Oklahoma remains as the alternate "free" route near its turnpikes. "Historic
Route 66" runs for a significant distance in and near Flagstaff, Arizona. Farther west, a long
segment of US 66 in Arizona runs significantly north of I-40, and much of it is designated
as State Route 66 (SR 66). This runs from Seligman to Kingman, Arizona, via Peach Springs. A
surface street stretch between San Bernardino and La Verne (known as Foothill Boulevard) to
the east of Los Angeles retains its number as SR 66. Several county roads and city streets at
various places along the old route have also retained the "66" number.

Revival[edit]

Restored service station in Mt Olive, IL

The first Route 66 associations were founded in Arizona in 1987 and Missouri in 1989
(incorporated in 1990).[33][34] Other groups in the other US 66 states soon followed. In 1990, the
state of Missouri declared US 66 in that state a "State Historic Route". The first "Historic
Route 66" marker in Missouri was erected on Kearney Street at Glenstone Avenue in Springfield,
Missouri (now replaced—the original sign has been placed at Route 66 State
Park near Eureka).[35] Other historic markers now line—at times sporadically—the entire 2,400-
mile (3,900 km) length of road.[23] In many communities, local groups have painted or stencilled
the "66" and U.S. Route shield or outline directly onto the road surface, along with the state's
name.[23] This is common in areas where conventional signage for "Historic Route 66" is a target
of repeated theft by souvenir hunters.[36]

Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In in Seligman, AZ. The eatery is still a popular tourist stop.

Various sections of the road itself have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Arroyo Seco Parkway in the Los Angeles Area and US 66 in New Mexico have been made
into National Scenic Byways. Williams Historic Business District and Urban Route 66,
Williams were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and 1989, respectively.
In 2005, the State of Missouri made the road a state scenic byway from Illinois to Kansas. In the
cities of Rancho Cucamonga, Rialto, and San Bernardino in California, there are US 66 signs
erected along Foothill Boulevard, and also on Huntington Drive in the city of Arcadia. "Historic
Route 66" signs may be found along the old route on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, San
Dimas, LaVerne, and along Foothill Boulevard in Claremont, California. The city of Glendora,
California, renamed Alosta Avenue, its section of US 66, by calling it "Route 66". Flagstaff,
Arizona, renamed all but a few blocks of Sante Fe Avenue as "Route 66". Until 2017, when it was
moved to the nearby Millennium Park, the annual June Chicago Blues Festival was held each
year in Grant Park and included a "Route 66 Roadhouse" stage on Columbus Avenue, a few
yards north of old US 66/Jackson Boulevard (both closed to traffic for the festival), and a block
west of the route's former eastern terminus at US 41 Lake Shore Drive.[37][38] Since
2001, Springfield, Illinois has annually held its "International Route 66 Mother Road Festival" in
its downtown district surrounding the Old State Capitol.[39]
Many preservation groups have tried to save and even landmark the old motels and neon
signs along the road in different states.[40]
In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed a National Route 66 Preservation Bill that provided for $10
million in matching fund grants for preserving and restoring the historic features along the
route.[41]
In 2008, the World Monuments Fund added US 66 to the World Monuments Watch as sites
along the route such as gas stations, motels, cafés, trading posts and drive-in movie theaters are
threatened by development in urban areas and by abandonment and decay in rural areas.[42] The
National Park Service developed a Route 66 Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
describing over one hundred individual historic sites.[43] As the popularity and mythical stature of
US 66 has continued to grow, demands have begun to mount to improve signage, return US 66
to road atlases and revive its status as a continuous routing.
The U.S. Route 66 Recommissioning Initiative is a group that seeks to recertify US 66 as a US
Highway along a combination of historic and modern alignments.[44] The group's redesignation
proposal does not enjoy universal support, as requirements the route to meet modern US
Highway system specifications could force upgrades that compromise its historic integrity or
require US 66 signage be moved to Interstate highways for some portions of the route.
US 66 has been a fixture in popular culture. Pixar's 2006 animated film Cars describes the
decline of a once-booming Radiator Springs, nearly a ghost town once its mother road, US 66,
was bypassed by Interstate 40.[45] Pixar's creative director John Lasseter, inspired by what he
saw during a cross-country road trip with his family in 2000, contacted road historian Michael
Wallis who led the creative team down the still-drivable parts of the route as research for the film.
The fictional Radiator Springs is based on multiple real places visited on the five-state research
trip through Peach Springs, Arizona, Baxter Springs, Kansas, and countless small towns along
the way.[46] The movie's success generated a resurgence of public interest in US 66.[47]

National Museum of American History[edit]

The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. has a section on US 66 in its
"America on the Move" exhibition. In the exhibit is a portion of pavement of the route taken from
Bridgeport, Oklahoma and a restored car and truck of the type that would have been driven on
the road in the 1930s. Also on display is a "Hamons Court" neon sign that hung at a gas station
and tourist cabins near Hydro, Oklahoma, a "CABINS" neon sign that pointed to Ring's Rest
tourist cabins in Muirkirk, Maryland, as well as several post cards a traveler sent back to his
future wife while touring the route.[48]

Autry National Center[edit]

The Autry National Center in Los Angeles opened an exhibition about the fact and fiction of
US 66 on June 8, 2014, which ran through January 4, 2015. The exhibit includes the original
manuscript of Jack Kerouac's "On The Road," the original scribbled song lyrics for "Route 66" by
Bobby Troup (and multiple versions of the song itself), a neon motel sign, maps, The Negro
Motorist Green Book, Woody Guthrie's Martin guitar (and recordings of his dust-bowl-era songs),
and many other interesting artifacts.[49]

Route description[edit]
Over the years, US 66 received many nicknames. Right after US 66 was commissioned, it was
known as "The Great Diagonal Way" because the Chicago-to-Oklahoma City stretch ran
northeast to southwest. Later, US 66 was advertised by the U.S. Highway 66 Association as
"The Main Street of America". The title had also been claimed by supporters of US 40, but the
US 66 group was more successful. In the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, the
highway is called "The Mother Road", its prevailing title today.[50] Lastly, US 66 was unofficially
named "The Will Rogers Highway" by the U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1952, although a sign
along the road with that name appeared in the John Ford film, The Grapes of Wrath, which was
released in 1940, twelve years before the association gave the road that name. A plaque
dedicating the highway to Will Rogers is still located in Santa Monica, California. There are more
plaques like this; one can be found in Galena, Kansas. It was originally located on the Kansas-
Missouri state line, but moved to the Howard Litch Memorial Park in 2001.[51]

California[edit]
Main article: U.S. Route 66 in California

The sign of US 66's western terminus at the Santa Monica Pier

US 66 had its western terminus in California, and covered 315 miles (507 km) in the state.[52] The
terminus was located at the Pacific Coast Highway, then US 101 Alternate and now SR 1,
in Santa Monica, California. The highway ran through major cities such as Santa Monica, Los
Angeles, and San Bernardino. San Bernardino also contains one of the two surviving Wigwam
Motelsalong US 66. The highway had major intersections with US 101 in Hollywood, I-5 in Los
Angeles, I-15, and I-40 in Barstow, and US 95 in Needles. It also ran concurrent to I-40 at
California's very eastern end.[53]

Arizona[edit]

US 66 marker on the corner of Navajo Boulevard and Hopi Drive in Holbrook, AZ

Main article: U.S. Route 66 in Arizona

In Arizona, the highway originally covered 401 miles (645 km) in the state. Along much of the
way, US 66 paralleled I-40. It entered across the Topock Gorge, passing through the ghost town
of Oatman along the way to Kingman.[54] Between Kingman and Seligman, the route is still signed
as SR 66. Notably, just between Seligman and Flagstaff, Williams was the last point on US 66 to
be bypassed by an Interstate. Holbrook also contains one of the two surviving Wigwam
Motels on the route.[55]

New Mexico[edit]
Main article: U.S. Route 66 in New Mexico

US 66 covered 380 miles (610 km) in the state and passed through many Indian reservations in
the western half of New Mexico.[56] East of those reservations, the highway passed
through Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Las Vegas. As in Arizona, in New Mexico, U.S. 66
paralleled I-40.[57]

Texas[edit]
Main article: U.S. Route 66 in Texas
The Midpoint Café in Adrian, TX, at the midpoint of the route

US 66 covered 178 miles (286 km) in the Texas Panhandle, travelling in an east–west line
between Glenrio, New Mexico and Texas and Texola, Oklahoma.[58] Adrian, in the western
Panhandle, was notable as the midpoint of the route. East of there, the highway passed
through Amarillo, famous for the Cadillac Ranch, Conway, Groom, and Shamrock.

Oklahoma and Kansas[edit]

Main articles: U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma and U.S. Route 66 in Kansas

The highway covered 267 miles (430 km) in Oklahoma. Today, it is marked by I-40 west
of Oklahoma City, and SH-66 east of there. After entering at Texola, US 66 passed
through Sayre, and Elk City before entering Oklahoma City.[59] Beyond Oklahoma City, the
highway passed through Edmond on its way to Tulsa. Past there, US 66 passed through
northeastern Oklahoma before entering Kansas where it covered only 13.2 miles
(21.2 km).[60] Only three towns are located on the route in Kansas: Galena, Riverton and Baxter
Springs.

Missouri[edit]
Main article: U.S. Route 66 in Missouri

US 66 covered 292 miles (470 km) in Missouri. Upon entering from Galena, Kansas, the highway
passed through Joplin. From there, it passed through Carthage, Springfield, where Red's Giant
Hamburg, the world's first drive-thru stands, Waynesville, Devils Elbow, and Rolla before passing
through St. Louis.[61]

Illinois[edit]
Main article: U.S. Route 66 in Illinois

US 66 sign, Adams Street, Chicago

US 66 covered 301 miles (484 km) in Illinois. It entered Illinois in East St. Louis after crossing
the Mississippi River. Near there, it passed by Cahokia Mounds, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The highway then passed through Hamel, Springfield, passing by the Illinois State
Capitol, Bloomington-Normal, Pontiac, and Gardner.[62] It then entered the Chicago area. After
passing through the suburbs, U.S. 66 entered Chicago itself, where it terminated at Lake Shore
Drive.[63]