Route 66
Route 66 Facts and Trivia
- Current maps do not include old Route 66.
- Route 66 is 2448 miles long. (about 4000 km)
- Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, picking up as many as possible bits and pieces of existing road.
- Route 66 crosses 8 states and 3 time zones.
- Route 66 starts in Chicago, and ends in L.A. (Santa Monica).
- Some people think driving it in the opposite direction is historically wrong, but it's mainly a lot harder as all available documentation goes the "right" way.
- In 1926 only 800 miles of Route 66 were paved. Only in 1937 Route 66 got paved end-to-end.
- You can only drive parts of Route 66 these days... it has been replaced by the interstate highways I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15 and I-10, but still a surprisingly high amount of old road is waiting to be found by the more adventurous traveler.
- Route 66 is also know as "The Mother Road", "The Main Street of America" and "The Will Rogers Highway".
- During all of its life, Route 66 continued to evolve, leaving many abandoned stretches of concrete, still waiting to be found by the more adventurous traveler.
- Route 66 was also the title of a TV series playing from 1960 till 1964
- Cyrus Stevens Avery from Tulsa Oklahoma can be called the father of Route 66
- In 1985 Route 66 was officially decommissioned, but for daily use it was replaced far earlier by the Interstates.
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