Route 66 – Where Is It ?
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For the benefit of new travelers who plan to travel Route 66, this is intended as a general guide for finding Route 66.
Route 66 was officially known as “U.S. Federal Interstate Higway 66″ and was certified along with many other routes which came into being in 1926.
Before that, there was no system of numbered U.S. Highways. A “trails system” of routes marked out by private interests was in use before 1926. These bore names such as “National Old Trails Highway”, which was to become a part of Route 66. Eventually, so many of these had come into use that there was a great confusion in trying to travel cross country.
The “trails” were marked by colored bands, painted on telephone, telephone and electric power poles and just about any convenient place. For example The Lincoln Highway, which ran from New York to San Francisco was marked by red, white and blue bands of paint, with an “L” in the center, or white band. Some of these markers may still be found, for example, along the present route of US Highway 30.
Sometimes there were so many of these “trails” that they overlapped each other and the telephone poles would often be covered with paint from top to bottom. As George R. Stewart wryly remarks in “US 40 – Cross Section of the United States” : “It was not a time to be color-blind !” Mr. Stewart’s book is an excellent source of information not only for US Highway 40 but for the history of roads in the United and is highly recommended as “required reading”.
These new “U.S. Highways” were marked with signs in the shape of a shield, with black numbers.
East-west routes were even-numbered, such are U.S. Highways 2, 10, 40, etc. Main transcontinental routes ended in “0″ . Since it only ran from Chicago, in the midwestern part of the U.S. to Santa Monica on the Pacific Coast, Route 66 was not a true coast-to-coast highway. Routes branching off from these main routes would have three numbers, such as U.S. Highway 180 branches off from U.S. 80. Routes were numbered in numerical order from north to south. U.S. Highway 2 ran across the northern part of the U.S. and U.S. 90 through the southern states.
North-south routes were odd-numbered, such as U.S. Highways 1, 15, 95, etc. U.S. Highway 1 ran down the Eastern, or Atlantic Ocean Coast. U.S. Highway 101 was somewhat of a an exception to the two-number rule and ran down the Western, or Pacific Ocean Coast. Main north-south highways were usually numbered in numbers ending in 5 or 7, such as U.S. Highways 15 or 77. The numbering was from east to west.
Branch highways followed the same system as for east-west system.
The present system of Interstate Highways was begun during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The system is basically the same as the older U.S. Highway numbering system, only the order of numerical succession is from west-to-east and south-to-north. Interstate Highway 10, or I-10 runs across the southern states while I-90 across the north; I-5 runs down the Pacific Coast while I-95 down the Atlantic.
Now for Route 66. There has been a recent effort by most of the states along to mark the highway on a local, if not official basis. The route is marked “Historic Route 66″. There were many deviations and changes in the route, but it originally began (or ended) in Chicago , Illinois and ended (or began) in Santa Monica, California. There have also been many estimates as to the length of Route 66, one of which is 2,278 miles. The Route 66 Midway Cafe’ at Adrian, Texas lays claim to being the halfway point – 1139 Miles to Chicago, 1139 Miles to Los Angeles.
Historic Route 66 lies parallel to or has been supplanted by Interstate Highways as follows. These are listed as a guide to finding the old route if traveling on present day Interstate Highways.
Interstate Highway 55 (I-55) from Chicago, Illinois to St. Louis, Missouri
Interstate Highway 44 (I-44) from St. Louis, Missouri to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Interstate Highway 40 (I-40) from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Barstow, California
Interstate Highway 15 (I-15) from Barstow, California to San Bernardino, California
Interstate Highway 10 (I-10) from San Bernardino, California to Santa Monica, California