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U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. [3]
Route 66 was one of the first national highways for motor vehicles in the United States and one that became an icon in American popular culture. It ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, and served numerous cities along the route. It was completely paved in 1938 and formally decommissioned in 1985.
Route 66 had its official beginnings in 1926 when the Bureau of Public Roads launched the nation’s first Federal highway system. Like other highways in the system, the path of Route 66 was a cobbling together of existing local, State, and national roads.
The original terminus of U.S. Route 66 was at 7th and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. However, over the years, and decades, Route 66 has had several “official” and “unofficial" ending points. The route was later extended to the intersection of Lincoln and Olympic boulevards in Santa Monica, about one mile from the Pacific Ocean.
This Route 66 map has all of the original alignments color coded. Also called The Mother Road, these routes are historical parts of old U.S. Highway 66. They may no longer be accessible, drivable or visible.
The official origin of Route 66 was the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921. A road assessment of a decade earlier estimated the total mileage of rural roads in America at approximately 2.5 million miles, 10.5% of them surfaced.
During the summer of 1926, the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads created the first federal highway system, which included designating a network of existing roads connecting Chicago and Santa Monica,...
It originally began in Chicago, Illinois, crossing Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and then concluded in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California. It adds up to a total of 2448 miles (about 3940 km). It did not take long for Route 66 to make its way into pop culture as well.
Route 66 was built on centuries of travel, following Native American and Spanish trails, then the iron and steel grooves of railroad tracks as they cut across the American landscape, passing through the major bioregions of the North American continent.
Route 66 symbolized the renewed spirit of optimism that pervaded the country after economic catastrophe and global war. Often called, “The Main Street of America”, it linked a remote and under-populated region with two vital 20th century cities – Chicago and Los Angeles.