Named US Route 6, the road stretched from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Long Beach, California. It became one of America's first transcontinental highways. Today the road remains one of the longest highways in the nation.
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While the route retained the U.S. 395 designation between Bishop and Brown, the former segment of U.S. 6 beyond Brown became State Route 14. After the 1963 change in California, U.S. 6 became the second longest highway in the country (3,227 miles). The longest was and remains U.S. 20 (3,345 miles).
Virtually all roads, including Route 66, were functionally obsolete because of narrow pavements and antiquated structural features that reduced carrying capacity. Emergency road building measures developed during wartime left bridges and culverts woefully inadequate for postwar needs.
In some states Rt 66 is not well- marked and it was often difficult to find where it picks up when one section of it ends. But all in all it is worth the effort if you want to see some almost forgotten bits of Americana. Lots of worthwhile stops along the way, but they are scattered across 2,400 miles.
Migration and tourism shaped towns along Route 66 even before the road was officially established in 1926. But the Interstate Highway System decimated many of these communities when it circumvented Route 66 in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, many sections of Route 66 are completely gone.
Portions of the road have now been designated as National Scenic Byways or as “Historic Route 66” in several states including Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, and Missouri. Vintage Shell gas station (left) built in 1926 on Route 66 in Mount Olive, Illinois (photo taken between 1980 and 2006).
Jericho Gap, TexasThis became so profitable that there were rumors that some residents watered down the road to increase the plight of Route 66 travelers. Eventually, Route 66 was rerouted to higher ground in the 1930s and the area dwindled into a ghost town.