Sherman is getting a Route 66-inspired statue

I found this little item in Tim Landis’ weekly business column in the Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register:

The village of Sherman is in line for a ROUTE 66 interpretive statue. A transportation planning committee of the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission last week approved use of $15,365 in federal and state funds for the project.

The statue would go in Veterans Park, which is on the Sherman section of Route 66.

The Village of Sherman’s website contains a more detailed look at Veterans Park and the old section of Route 66, built in the 1920s, that winds through it:

 This segment underscores the fast paced evolution of Route 66 in Illinois. Designated as a part of the Mother Road in 1926, it was quickly replaced in 1930 with a major realignment to the east.

The original Route 66 road’s cross section included two eight-foot wide lanes with four to seven foot wide gravel shoulders. The Portland cement slab was generally six inches thick. Although cracked in places, its current concrete pavement is original and sits on Sherman’s northern edge of town. The road is in two segments as seen in the photographs below. The northern segment is 335 feet in length and the southern segment is 440 feet in length and has a small portion of an entry onto the northbound lane. Plans to revitalize the area call for the two sections to be connected with a pedestrian bridge over a drainage channel which separates the two sections of the roadway. Parking for 20 vehicles and 23 motorcycles will be available for visitors to the park.

I’ve emailed the village to see whether I can get an artist’s rendering of the statue.

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