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U.S. Route 66: Encyclopedia BETAFree Encyclopedia |
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After the new federal highway system was officially created, 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, Oklahoma, 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 Route 66. [1] The publicity worked: several dignitaries, including Will Rogers, greeted the runners at certain points on the route. The association went on to serve as a voice for businesses along the highway until it disbanded in 1976.
Much of the early highway, like all the other early highways, was gravel or graded dirt. Due to the efforts of the US Highway 66 Association, Route 66 became the first highway 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 of Arizona) was fraught with sharp hairpin turns and was the steepest along the entire routeâ€"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 until 1953â€"despite this, Route 66 continued to be a popular route. During World War II, more migration west occurred because of war-related industries in California. Route 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.
Changes in routingFour major sections of US 66 underwent major realignments during the 1930s.In 1930, between Springfield, Illinois and East St. Louis, Illinois, US 66 was shifted further east to what is now roughly I-55. The original alignment followed the current Illinois Route 4. From downtown St. Louis to Gray Summit, Missouri, US 66 originally went down Market Street and Manchester Road (now, largely, Missouri State Highway 100). In 1932, this route was changed, the original alignment never being viewed as anything more than temporary. The planned route was down Watson Road (now Missouri State Highway 366), but Watson Road had not yet been completed. 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, followed (roughly) I-25 through Santa Fe and Albuquerque to Los Lunas and then turned northwest along the present State Highway 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. Also, 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, Springfield, Missouri; Joplin, Missouri; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Decline
During its nearly 60-year existence, Route 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, Missouri, 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 into the interstate highway system in later years. One of the remnants of Route 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, as part of an effort to make Illinois 66 an Autobahn equivalent for military transport.
In some cases, such as many areas in Illinois, the new Interstate not only paralleled the old Route 66, it actually incorporated much of it. A typical approach was to build one new set of lanes, then move one direction of traffic to it, then rebuild those old lanes as the new lanes for the other direction of traffic, and finally abandon the other old set of lanes or convert 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 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 intial 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. 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 Jon became 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. 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 strip from the Texas border at Glenrio west through San Jon to Tucumcari, which was becoming increasing 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 vicinty of San Jon held up construction plans for several years as federal officials propopsed that I-40 run some five to six miles 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 of 1969, a truce was reached when federal highway officials agreed to build the I-40 route just outside of 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. Interstate 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. 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 intersections, travelers 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 Interstate 40 through Williams. Finally, with decertification of the highway by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials the following year, U.S. Route 66 officially ceased to exist. With the decommissioning of US 66, no single interstate route was designated to replace it. Interstate 55 covered the section from Chicago to St. Louis; Interstate 44 carried the traffic on to Oklahoma City; Interstate 40 took the largest chunk, replacing 66 to Barstow, California; Interstate 15 took over for the route to San Bernardino; and Interstate 10 carried Route 66's traffic across the Los Angeles metro area to Santa Monica. After decertification
Some states have kept the 66 designation for parts of the highway, albeit as state roads. Missouri highways 366, 266, and 66 are all original sections of the highway. Oklahoma State Highway 66 remains as the alternate "free" route near its turnpikes. A long segment in Arizona signed as Arizona State Route 66 links Seligman to Kingman. A surface street stretch between San Bernardino and La Verne (known as Foothill Boulevard) in eastern Los Angeles County retains its number as State Route 66. Several county roads and city streets have also retained the "66" name. Revival
Route 66 and American pop cultureRoute 66 gave its name to a company and also was immortalized in literature, popular music, and television. Although several businesses became associated with Route 66 because of their being on or near the highway, Phillips 66 actually took part of their name directly from the highway.Because the road through Oklahoma was relatively flat and straight, two chemical engineers decided to test a new gasoline from a Tulsa oil company in the late 1920s. The company car they were driving ran exceptionally well on the new blend, prompting the engineer in the passenger seat to exclaim that the car was "going like sixty". His companion looked at the speedometer and said that they were going more like 66 miles/hour (106 km/h). The combination of the highway number and the speed of the car led to the naming of Phillips 66 gasoline, a brand still marketed today.
In 1946, jazz composer and pianist Bobby Troup wrote his best-known song, "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66", after driving the highway himself to get to California. He presented it to Nat King Cole who in turn made it one of the biggest hit singles of his career. The title was suggested by Troup's first wife, Cynthia, who accompanied him on the trip. The song later became a hit for Chuck Berry, and has been recorded by many subsequent artists, including The Rolling Stones, Depeche Mode and John Mayer. The highway also gave its name to a popular television show, Route 66, seen from 1960 through 1964 on CBS. The show featured Martin Milner and George Maharis as Tod and Buz, two young men in a Corvette looking for adventure along America's highways. Maharis was later replaced by Glenn Corbett, who played a returning Viet Nam vet named Linc. Strangely, though the entire program was filmed on location, it was rarely shot along Route 66. Since then, the Corvette has become the car most associated with Route 66. The theme song from the TV series, long a staple of General Motors advertising for the Corvette, was written and played by Nelson Riddle and his band. Another famous GM product has a strong connection to Route 66: The Cadillac Ranch, located near Amarillo, Texas, features a row of ten vintage Cadillacs standing up at an angle, with their front ends buried into the ground. An NBA Development League basketball team, the Tulsa 66ers, was named after the route. The road also lent its name to a minor league baseball team, the Inland Empire 66ers. Currently, K-Mart's line of jeans also bears the name of the former highway, branded as "Route 66". On the Disney's film A Goofy Movie. Goofy and Max are going on vacation using Route 66. In the Stargate SG-1 episode "1969", the SG-1 team drives a Volkswagen van along much of the route traversed by the highway, with prop U.S. Route shield signs posted at the side of the road. The highway was referred to as "the fabled Route 66" in Stacy Peralta's Dogtown and Z-Boys. The Disney/Pixar movie Cars is set mainly in the fictional town of Radiator Springs, located on Route 66 and accessible to I-40. Radiator Springs was based largely on Amboy, California, an actual Route 66 town that saw a rapid decline when I-40 opened in the early 1970s. The film was originally titled Route 66, but had its name changed to avoid confusion with the 1960s-vintage TV show. It opened June 9, 2006. Several familiar sites associated with Route 66 appear in the film, including a visual homage to Cadillac Ranch, and to the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. In the manga Shaman King, after Yoh Asakura and his group land in America, they are unsure if they are actually there until Tao Ren points out they are after he spots the sign for Route 66. NicknamesOver the years, U.S. Route 66 received many nicknames:# The Great Diagonal Wayâ€"Right after Route 66 was commissioned, it received this nickname because a large section of the highway (Chicago to Oklahoma City) ran diagonally, unlike the other highways.# The Main Street of Americaâ€"Advertised as such by the US Highway 66 Association to promote the highway. The title had also been claimed by supporters of U.S. Route 40, but the Route 66 group was more successful.# The Mother Roadâ€"Called this by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath, the title continued to be applied to the highway.# The Will Rogers Highwayâ€" "officially" named this by the US Highway 66 Association in 1952. A plaque dedicating the highway to the humorist is still located opposite the western terminus of Route 66 in Santa Monica, California. There were 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.Bannered routes
* U.S. Route 66 Alternate: Bolingbrook, ILâ€"Gardner, IL * U.S. Route 66 Business: Towanda, ILâ€"Bloomington, IL * U.S. Route 66 Business: Lincoln, IL * U.S. Route 66 Business: Springfield, IL * U.S. Route 66 Business: Mitchell, ILâ€"East St. Louis, IL * U.S. Route 66 Business: St. Louis, MOâ€"Sunset Hills, MO * U.S. Route 66 Optional: Venice, ILâ€"St. Louis, MO * U.S. Route 66 Bypass: Mitchell, ILâ€"Sunset Hills, MO * U.S. Route 66 Business: Springfield, MO * U.S. Route 66 Bypass: Springfield, MO * U.S. Route 66 Alternate Business: Springfield, MO * U.S. Route 66 Alternate: Carthage, MO * U.S. Route 66 Business: Carterville, MOâ€"Webb City * U.S. Route 66 Alternate: Webb City, MOâ€"Joplin, MO * U.S. Route 66 Business: Joplin, MO * U.S. Route 66 Bypass: Joplin, MO * U.S. Route 66 Business: Tulsa, OK * U.S. Route 66 Business: Oklahoma City, OK * U.S. Route 66 Business: Clinton, OK * U.S. Route 66 Business: Amarillo, TX * U.S. Route 66 Business: San Bernardino, CA * U.S. Route 66 Alternate: Pasadena, CAâ€"Los Angeles, CA Related U.S. routesDaughters of U.S. Route 66:* U.S. Route 166 * U.S. Route 266 * U.S. Route 366 * U.S. Route 466 * U.S. Route 566 * U.S. Route 666, renamed to U.S. Route 491 in 2003 Related state routes* Illinois Route 53* Illinois Route 4 * Illinois Route 203 * Missouri State Highway 100 * Missouri State Highway 366 * Missouri State Highway 266 * Missouri State Highway 96 * Missouri State Highway 66 * Kansas State Highway 66 * Oklahoma State Highway 66 * New Mexico State Highway 333 * Arizona State Route 66 * California State Route 66 * California State Route 110 * California State Route 2 Related Interstate highways* Interstate 55* Interstate 44 * Interstate 40 * Interstate 15 * Interstate 215 * Interstate 10 ReferencesArizona Highways (July, 1981). Entire issue about Route 66.* Freeth, Nick. Route 66. St. Paul, Minnesota: MBI Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0760308640. * Rittenhouse, Jack D. A Guide Book to Highway 66. Albuquerque, New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1989 (reprint of 1946 book). ISBN 0826311482. * Schneider, Jill. Route 66 Across New Mexico: A Wanderer's Guide. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991. ISBN 0826312802. * Scott, Quinta and Susan Croce Kelly. Route 66: A Highway and Its People. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988. ISBN 0806122919. * Wallis, Michael. Route 66: The Mother Road. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2001. ISBN 0312281676. See also*Over 300 cities, towns, and unincorporated communities are located on former US 66. Most of them have articles. For an exhaustive list of these locations (with links), see List of communities on U.S. Route 66.*National Old Trails Highway was the precursor to Route 66 from Los Angeles, California to Moriarty, New Mexico *Missouri State Highway 14 (decommissioned) includes additional information on the path of Route 66 prior to its creation. *U.S. Highway 66 in Texas Annual events* Route 66 on the AirFootnotesExternal linksGeneral*DMOZ: Recreation Roads and Highways Route 66 DMOZ category of Route 66 links*Historic Route 66 forum, pictures, directions for driving on the original alignments of 66 in all eight states *Bring Back Route 66! intended as a petition to recommission U.S. Route 66 *Route 66: In the beginning why was it named 66, 1928 maps, details of the daughters of Route 66 *Route 66 Documentary External photo and travelogue links*UntraveledRoad Photographic Virtual Tour of Historic Route 66*Photo tours along Route 66 in the Mojave Desert *Route 66 Including photographs, travelogues and online references. *Travelling the Main Street of America exhaustive description of the drive from Chicago to Santa Monica *Photographic images from all 8 states *Cruise66: cruising along Route 66 for 3 weeks External Museum links
*California Route 66 Museum *Route 66 State Park in Eureka, Missouri External Route 66 association links*National Historic Route 66 FederationExternal articles on Route 66*Article about Route 66 published in the Washington Missourian in 2001*Where is Route 66? A 2006 Straight Dope Staff Report about the highway's history and cultural significance *„Route 66 â€" ein amerikanischer albTraum" "open source"-film by netlabel VEB Film Leipzig about an adventurous journey along the "mother road", 104 minutes playing time (in German) External links to blogs*Route 66: In Fiction, Poetry and Real Life informative listing of available Route 66 fiction books, short stories and poetry and tales from real life visits to Route 66 landmarks
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