A 1.3-mile stretch of old Route 66 southeast of Springfield, Ill., may be placed on the National Register of Historic Places next month, reports the Springfield Journal-Register.
Preservationists believe the road is the longest drivable section of the original Route 66 remaining in Illinois. […]
The road, 16 feet wide compared to 24 feet for modern two-lane roads, is often used by farm equipment and as a commuter route for people who live southeast of Springfield. […]
It’s my understanding the Route 66 preservationist John Weiss was a big proponent of doing this. You can see a map of the old alignment here; it’s clearly marked as old 66.
In another story from the Journal-Register, the town of Sherman, Ill., is designing a Veterans Memorial and Route 66 Historic Gateway Park. A village trustee said:
“Secondly, it’s a tribute to the historic Route 66. On the site there (are) portions of the original Route 66, and we want to take advantage of that,” he said.
That’s good. Perhaps the two sections of Sidewalk Road south of Miami can be preserved the same way. I rode my Sportster over them last summer. It was fun but I could only go 30mph and was still bouncing around all over the place.
There’s several other sections of original roadbed in Oklahoma that need to be saved.