Planning a Trip on Route 66

Where is Route 66?

Before embarking on a journey on Route 66, it is important to know that there is no longer a U.S. highway named Route 66. The roadway was decommissioned as a highway in 1985 by the United States Department of Transportation, as most of the roadway had been converted to an interstate.
The original Route 66 connected Chicago to Los Angeles, covering eight states and cities, including St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Albuquerque. Many portions of the highway are marked with signs that denote it as a historical highway. Some portions are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Others, including the Arroyo Seco highway in California, are preserved as National Scenic Byways.

What roadways encompass Route 66?

Route 66 has been absorbed into the interstate highway system. Today, a trip on the historic Route 66 begins on U.S. Route 41 in Chicago. Drivers merge onto Interstate 55 South near Gardner, Illinois. I-55 continues South to Duenweg, Missouri, where it merges with I-44 West. I-40 is the longest stretch of roadway, running through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. It joins I-40 outside of Kingman, Arizona. I-40 runs through the state and into California, where it links to I-15 in the San Bernardino Valley. I-15 runs for a short while before connecting to I-10 outside of the city of Los Angeles. Route 66 follows I-10 where it ends--facing the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica.

Historically speaking

Route 66's historic context is remarkable. Popularized in song and movies, it is characterized as the route out of Oklahoma by the characters in "The Grapes of Wrath" as an escape from The Dust Bowl. The roadway was the first national highway. The string of landmarks it connects is amazing--the skyscrapers of Chicago, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in Arizona, the cities of Los Angeles and Hollywood and the Santa Monica Pier. In addition, the Grand Canyon is located only 1 hour north of the roadway in Arizona.