I found this item in the Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph in the How Time Flies section: 25 years ago Oct. 8, 1984: Route 66 is now officially gone. A six mile stretch of Interstate 40 replaced the last of the "Mother Road" near Wilcox, Arizona. I-55 replaced Route 66 in Illinois. Along the Chicago-Los Angeles route, … Continue reading The end and the beginning
Category: Highways
Driving Route 66 to save time
If you're traveling through central Missouri near the Interstate 44 corridor from Thursday through Thanksgiving, it may be advisable to take old Route 66 in the Rolla and Doolittle area. The Rolla Daily News reports that the transportation department is adding lane restrictions to that interstate and that delays could be 45 minutes to an … Continue reading Driving Route 66 to save time
National Park Service launches Route 66 site
The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is already under the auspices of the National Park Service. But the NPS recently launched a Route 66 "Discover Our Shared Heritage" travel itinerary site that should prove useful to novice travelers and be informative to researchers. Funded in part by American Express and the World Monuments Fund, the … Continue reading National Park Service launches Route 66 site
Freeway project may improve Route 66 access
Improvements to Interstate 215 in San Bernardino, Calif., may ease travelers' access to Mount Vernon Avenue, an old alignment of Route 66, reports the San Bernardino County Sun. The improvements include several new exit ramps off the freeway by 2013 for Second, Third and Fifth streets as well as Base Line. Currently, drivers sometimes have … Continue reading Freeway project may improve Route 66 access
Route 66 documentary in the works
California-based Waterline Entertainment is producing a historical documentary about Route 66 that is tentatively slated to be released sometime in 2011. Geoff Foley, a writer and producer at Waterline, and I recently made connections through my Twitter account. He said the working title of the film is "Route 66: America's Main Street." His partner on … Continue reading Route 66 documentary in the works
Free road or toll road?
KOTV in Tulsa and KWTV in Oklahoma City conducted an interesting experiment. With the toll roads in Oklahoma costing an average of 16 percent more in recent weeks (via a Toll Authority price hike), reporters from those TV stations decided to drive to each other's city -- one on the toll road, the other on … Continue reading Free road or toll road?
Madonna of the Trail
Larry Harnisch, who writes a history blog, The Daily Mirror, for the Los Angeles Times, has an interesting post about the Madonna of the Trail monument that was erected in 1929 on Foothill Boulevard, aka Route 66, in Upland, Calif. Harnisch writes: These monumental statues were meant to venerate the pioneer spirit, but today, some … Continue reading Madonna of the Trail
Touching on its legacy
ConocoPhillips today posted this nifty video that talks about the history of Route 66 and historic Conoco and Phillips 66 gas stations along the Mother Road in Texas. It's good to see a major corporation at least acknowledge its history. Sometimes, in the quest to pave roads to the future, corporations forget where they've been. … Continue reading Touching on its legacy
Oklahoma firm producing film about Cyrus Avery
Deep into a story from Indian Country Today about an Oklahoma film company acquiring the rights to a novel about major-league baseball's first American Indian player is this: Mike (Marshall) has been involved in Oklahoma television for more than 20 years as a production manager and field producer. He has produced more than 200 hours … Continue reading Oklahoma firm producing film about Cyrus Avery
Don’t bypass me by
The towns of Holbrook and Winslow, Ariz., like a lot of towns on Route 66, saw a big decrease in traffic when they were bypassed by Interstate 40. Now, according to AzJournal.com, there is a transportation plan afoot that would bypass even more traffic from those towns onto I-40. In Holbrook, a proposal has been … Continue reading Don’t bypass me by