If you use a wheelchair or have other mobility concerns, you’ll probably be pleased to learn that the Illinois Route 66 Association Museum and Hall of Fame in Pontiac now has a new elevator to serve the complex’s second floor, reports the Pontiac Daily Leader.
A couple from New York state, going through the museum as part of a Route 66 trip, happened to be the first to ride the elevator after the inspector cleared it at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday.
It’s the knees, hips and other impediments of some older or disabled visitors to the Route 66 and War museums that prompted the City Council to install the elevator, using Tax Increment Financing money and a $75,000 donation from the Humiston and Byrne trusts. The three-stop elevator serves the Old City Hall Shoppes, the second floor of the Route 66 Museum, and the Livingston County War Museum, which previously was accessible only from a stairway.
The original target for opening the elevator was Labor Day weekend. Some delays pushed that date back, and in its first inspection, in September, the inspector said it lacked a monitoring board for the smoke-detector system. That was a requirement for Illinois elevators that went into effect in August, a city employee noted at the council’s meeting.