On this date in history, June 27, 1985, Route 66, the iconic 2,200-mile American route from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, came to an end after 59 years.
This occurred after the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) decertified the highway and voted to remove the highway signs, according to History.com.
Route 66 extended through eight states and its beginnings date back to the 19th century.
Those states are Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
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In 1857, Congress commissioned explorer, frontiersman, and military officer Lieutenant Edward Fitzgerald Beale to “lay out a wagon road” following the 35th parallel” from Fort Defiance, near the New Mexico-Arizona border, to the Colorado River,” notes the National Park Service website. .
Beale's Road, as it was originally called, established a “vital military transportation and communication link” between Fort Smith, near the Arkansas River, and the westernmost reaches of the Southwest, that site also says.
Route 66 passed through eight states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. (iStock)
Lieutenant Beale was certain that this link would become “the great emigrant trail to California” and the federal government subsequently financed the $200,000 cost.
This spurred both “the creation of the transcontinental railroad and the establishment of Route 66,” the park's website also says.
The idea of building a highway along this route originated in Oklahoma in the mid-1920s, proposed as a link from that state to cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles, notes History.com.
“Highway Commissioner Cyrus S. Avery touted it as a way to divert traffic from Kansas City, Missouri, and Denver,” the site also noted.
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In 1926, the highway received its official designation as Route 66.
“The Mother Road,” as John Steinbeck called it in his 1939 saga “The Grapes of Wrath,” was commissioned on Nov. 11, 1926, and eventually stretched 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles, according to Route66roadtrip.com.
A historic Route 66 sign near a Shakey's pizzeria in Hollywood, California. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Getty Images)
It charted a diagonal course through the American heartland, linking existing rural roads into a single numbered route and linking rural communities in the eight aforementioned states, according to the official Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway website.
Route 66 allowed farmers to more easily transport grain and other types of products for distribution.
The highway was also a lifeline for the long-distance trucking industry, which by the 1930s was competing with the railroad for dominance in the shipping market, according to History.com.
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Beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the early 1980s, new interstate highways were built on or adjacent to the old right-of-way of the original Route 66. By October 1984, its route had been usurped by freeways, according to The Detroit Bureau, an automotive news website.
Less than a year later, on June 27, 1985, Route 66 was formally decertified and the signs were removed, becoming nothing more than a memory.
Route 66 was designated as a scenic byway by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2005, the Detroit Office also said.
Santa Monica, California, is the end of the road for Route 66. (iStock)
Often called “America's Main Street,” Route 66 became a pop culture reference for several decades.
Along with John Steinbeck's Depression-era classic, the highway was also the inspiration for Bobby Troup's 1947 song “Route 66,” later recorded by artists including Nat “King” Cole, Chuck Berry and the Rolling Stones. Stones, History.com said.
Additionally, Route 66 was featured in the 2006 animated film “Cars.”
Today, drivers can still use 85% of the highway and Route 66 has become a destination for tourists from around the world, according to the National Historic Route 66 Federation.
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Other quick facts about Route 66, from Route66roadtrip.com:
1. Route 66 was replaced by five Interstates: I-55 from Chicago, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10 to Los Angeles.
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2. In the town of Continental Divide, New Mexico, Route 66 reached its highest point, with an elevation of just over 7,200 feet.
Route 66 runs through Monument Valley in the Navajo Tribe Park in Arizona. (iStock)
3. Parts of Route 66 are located in three time zones: Central, Mountainous and Pacific.
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4. There is a stretch of Route 66 near Tijeras, New Mexico, that, when driving east, plays “America the Beautiful.” If you drive the 45 mph speed limit during the quarter-mile stretch along the rumble strips, you'll be able to hear the song through the vibrations of your car's wheels.
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5. In 2026, the nation will celebrate the “Centennial of Route 66… 100 years of the Mother Highway serving the traveling public.”
Many states and organizations have been planning special events and tours to highlight the centennial of U.S. Route 66.
