Route 66

Highway 66, also kwon as Route 66 is the most famous of the United States Highways.

It was established in 1926 and ran from Chicago in Illinois, passing through Missouri, a small section of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and, California with its end point at Santa Monica in Los Angeles.

The Route was 2,448 miles long with 400 miles sections through the states of Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona, 300 miles sections through the states of Illinois, Missouri and California, 180 mile section through Texas and 13 miles section through Kansas.

In Illinois the road connected Chicago to St. Louis. Then in Missouri it travelled from St. Louis to Central City close to the border with Kansas were it connected Galena with Baxter Springs. It then enters Oklahoma north east of Quapaw and travelled to Texola between Oklahoma and Texas. From there it crossed into Texas till Glenrio at the border with New Mexico. From Glenrio the road travelled through New Mexico to Lupton at the border with Arizona. In Arizona Route 66 arrived at Tupok near California and finally crossed Califonria arriving at Santa Monica.

The birth of Route 66 is deeply connected to Tulsa in Oklahoma and Springfield in Missouri.

The final itinerary for the planned route was the idea of entrepreneurs Cirus Avery from Tulsa and John Woodruff from Springfield. They lobbied for their 1925 plan that proposed Route 66 itinerary passing through those two cities.

They were successful and Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926. It served as the main road for those moving west specially during the dust bowl and the recession of the 1930’s. This is described in the John Steinbeck’s novel  “The Grapes of Wrath” where the road was called the “Mother Road”. The book was turned into a Hollywood film starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford, that was released in 1940.

The road was a big stimulus for the economy of every town that it passed through. The original route from 1926 went through many improvements and realignments along the years.

Some sections were replaced by Highways 44, 55 and 40 between the years of 1956 and 1957. Small towns fought to keep the highway alive but slowly sections of the route 66 started to disappear either being completely bypassed, replaced by highway or becoming feeder or service road sections. This fact is well represented in the economic downturn of the town of Radiator Springs in the movie Cars that was based on the town of Baxter Springs in Kansas bypassed by the highway system.

By 1985 Route 66 did not exist anymore. What we have today is just segments of the highway system that passes near the original route. 

When travel through Route 66, in reality what you are travelling through is sections of the modern US highway system. You can spot the original Route 66 as some of the feeder or service roads along the highways. In other cases, small detours allow you go through sections of the original Route 66 road that are now enlarged and renovated.

Original sections of route 66 are very rare. You may find a few bypassed sections where they still exist. As far as we are aware there is only a short section in Oklahoma near the town of Miami where the original pavement, the narrow road and the cement siders can be observed. Extremely interesting but modern day tourists that are not aware rarely visit this frozen-in-time section of Route 66.

In those few sections you can appreciate the original pavement and white cement liners separating the narrow road from the its shoulders. Some sections of the road were 9-foot wide with a single paved lane. This “sidewalk highway” form was designed for the small cars and service trucks of the time such as the Ford Model T.

Route 66 has several nicknames: “The Mother Road”, “Main Street of America”, and “America’s Highway” among others. In each state where its original trajectory goes through it receives specific names: “The Birthplace of Route 66” and “Begin Route 66” in Illinois, “Show-Me Route 66” and “Gateway to the West” in Missouri, “The Shortest Stretch” and “Little Kansas Route 66” in Kansas, “Will Rogers Highway” in Oklahoma, “Panhandle Route 66” and “The Flat Route” in Texas, “The Scenic Route” in New Mexico, “Historic Route 66” in Arizona, “The End of the Trail” and “The Road to the Pacific” in California.

What do you see when you travel through the itinerary of Route 66?

At the time of its creation there was a need to provide services and accommodation for travelers. Many gas stations, motels, restaurants were dispersed along the road. Today some remain intact, some have been restored to its original conditions, some have been abandoned to a point that only the foundations can be seen, others have been renovated becoming very different than what they originally looked like.

The route also crossed through or near many of America’s national parks and important monuments and historical locations.

Some of the interesting original businesses are located a few miles from the highway system due to the bypasses. Some of those places became ghost towns. Besides the points of interest of the original road, there are many more modern places that worth a stop.

We have visited several sections of the route along the years but decided to date the posts consecutively so that they are close to each other in the blog. We will present the road attractions in each state as if we were driving the route from Chicago to Santa Barbara. Links with more details on some of the attractions will take you to posts with more in depth information.