Today in History, June 27: Route 66

byericpierre

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Updated 7 years ago

1985, on June 27, the iconic Route 66 enters the realm of history, when the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials decertifies the road and votes to remove all its highway signs.

Measuring some 2,448 miles (3940 km) in its heyday, Route 66 stretched from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. Passing through eight states (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California), Route 66 followed a path through the wilderness forged in 1857 by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Edward Beale at the head of a camel’s caravan. Over the years, wagon trains and cattlemen eventually made way for trucks and passenger cars.

The idea of building a highway along this route surfaced in Oklahoma in the mid-1920’s to link the state to cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. In 1926, the highway earned its official designation as Route 66. The diagonal course of Route 66 linked hundreds of mostly rural communities to the cities along its route. This allowed farmers to transport more easily grain and other types of produce for distribution. The highway was also a lifeline for the long-distance trucking industry, which by 1930, was competing with the railroad for dominance in the shipping market.

Beginning in the 1950’s, the building of a massive system of interstate highways made older roads increasingly obsolete. By 1970, modern four-lane highways had bypassed nearly all sections of Route 66. In October 1984, Interstate-40 bypassed the last original stretch of Route 66 at Williams, Arizona. The following year the road was decertified.

According to the National Historic Route 66 Federation, drivers can still use 85 percent of the road. Over the years since 1985, Route 66 has become a destination for tourists from all over the world.