66 Facts about Route 66

Stephen Owsley, KJRH

By: KJRH Digital

TULSA, Okla. — Route 66 is turning 100!

To commemorate the big day, 2 News Oklahoma rounded up 66 fun facts about the iconic highway.

Route 66 basics:

Oklahoma businessman Cyrus Avery is considered the Father of Route 66
He drew the route to go through his hometown, Tulsa
Route 66 opened on November 11,1926
The highway only had 800 miles paved when it opened
Route 66 did not get fully paved until 1938
Route 66 is the first highway to be fully paved
It didn't originally have the name Route 66, the initial proposal called it Route 60
Route 66 was not the longest U.S. Highway; the honor goes to U.S. 20, which spans 3,365 miles
The route crosses three time zones
Eight states feature segments of the route: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California
The shortest stretch is in Kansas (13 miles)
The longest stretch is New Mexico (487)
Oklahoma is home to the largest drive-able stretch of Route 66 (432 miles)
From beginning to end in 1926, Route 66 traversed 2,448 miles
The highway connected Chicago to Los Angeles as one of America’s first major all-weather highways, unlike earlier routes that turned to mud in bad weather
Route 66 briefly got a new name after the death of Oklahoma icon Will Rogers, officials re-branded it the “Will Rogers Highway” in 1952
Route 66 was stitched together from existing local roads and highways, so it zigzagged instead of running perfectly straight
In early days, Route 66 had no uniform signage. Drivers got lost following a patchwork of local road markers
Route 66’s endpoints, Navy Pier and Santa Monica Pier, are symbolic anchors for the traditional start and end of the route
Route 66 crosses the Mississippi River in Saint Louis
Route 66 crosses the Arkansas River in Tulsa
Route 66 crosses the Colorado River in Arizona

Traveling Route 66:

Some towns along Route 66 relocated closer to the highway to get passing travelers and business
In 1928, promoters held a foot race across Route 66. It got nicknamed the Bunion Derby
300 racers signed up for the 3,400 mile race
Cherokee citizen Andy Payne won the race and $25,000
The midway of Route 66 is in Adrian, Texas
Around 210,000 people used Route 66 during the Dust Bowl migration in the 1930s, chasing jobs and survival in the West
Route 66 facilitated wartime mobilization during World War II when thousands headed to California, Oregon, and Washington to work in defense plants
The first McDonald's opened on Route 66 in California on December 12, 1948. It is now a museum
The first drive-through restaurant, Red's Giant Hamburg, opened in Springfield, Missouri
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Route 66 crosses itself at the intersection of Central Avenue and 4th Street
The highest point along Route 66 is the Arizona Divide, located just west of Flagstaff, Arizona at 7,335 feet
The lowest point along Route 66 is Santa Monica, California. The official western end finishes right at the Pacific Ocean at exactly sea level.
There are two of each of these towns on Route 66: Springfield (MO, IL); Conway (TX, MO); McLean (TX, IL) and Arcadia (OK and CA)
Service station prototypes developed on Route 66 through experimentation, and then adopted across the country

The End of Route 66:

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 created the Interstate System, which slowly replaced Route 66
Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced U.S. 66 over the next three decades
Oklahoma is the first state to deal the first blow against Route 66.
The Turner Turnpike, also known as I-44, opened and bypassed up to 100 miles of the Mother Road
The first segment of Route 66 to lose certification was the one located in Los Angeles County in 1964
The last Route 66 town by-passed by the Interstate system was Williams, Arizona, on October 13, 1984
U.S. Route 66 was officially removed from the United States Highway System on June 27, 1985
Route 66 was officially decommissioned in 1985

Preserving Route 66:

Many sections were later preserved and marked as “Historic Route 66” for tourism starting in the late 1980s
In 1990, Congress passed the Route 66 Study Act which recognized the importance that US 66 had as a symbol of America and its values.
More than 100 preserved “ghost” stretches of Route 66 still exist, where the old road runs right next to modern highways
About 85% of the original road still exists today in some drive-able form, even if it’s not always under the same name
You can still drive down a narrow (9 foot wide) stretch of the 1920s road between Afton and Miami in Oklahoma
Some original Route 66 pavement still shows hand-laid concrete from the 1930s
More than 250 buildings, bridges, road alignments and other sites along Route 66 that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Part of Route 66 sings
In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed a National Route 66 Preservation Bill providing $10 million in matching fund grants for preserving and restoring the historic features along the route
The cultural value of the highway led the World Monuments Fund to place it on its Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites
The National Trust for Historic Preservation also designated it as a National Treasure
Route 66 Association Hall of Fame & Museum is in Pontiac, Illinois
In 2026, Oklahoma launched a Route 66 centennial license plate

Route 66 in Pop Culture:

The Mother Road: The famous moniker was coined by author John Steinbeck in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Grapes of Wrath
“(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” was written on the road while songwriter Bobby Troup moved from Pennsylvania to Hollywood along part of the road
Route 66 inspired the 1960s TV show Route 66, filmed on location and following two drifters traveling the highway in a Corvette
Route 66 is also featured in the animated feature Cars, which portrays a fictional town bypassed by an Interstate Highway
Michael Wallis, a real Route 66 historian, voiced Sheriff in Cars and helped shape the film’s authenticity
Disney’s Cars Land at California Adventure Park is modeled after Route 66 towns. Some design elements were inspired by real locations, including Seligman, Arizona
In 2026, the United States Postal Service issued Forever stamps featuring designs from Route 66 to commemorate the route's centennial
In Sapulpa, the Heart of Route 66 Auto Museum has a giant 66-foot-tall gas pump
The Williams' Store (Eisler Brothers Old Riverton Store) in Kansas is the oldest continuously operating store on Route 66: it's been open since 1925.

For full coverage of Route 66 and the centennial: