U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66
Will Rogers Memorial Highway
Route information
Length	2,448 mi (3,940 km)
Existed	November 26, 1926 (1926-11-26)[1]–June 26, 1985 (1985-06-26)[2]
Tourist routes	Historic Route 66
Major intersections (in 1947)[3]
West end	US 101 Alt. in Santa Monica, Cal.
Major intersections	US 6 / US 99 / US 101 in Los Angeles, Cal. US 91 from San Bernardino to Barstow, Cal. US 93 / US 466 in Kingman, Ariz. US 89 from Ash Fork to Flagstaff, Ariz. US 666 from Sanders, Ariz. to Gallup, N.M. US 60 / US 87 / US 287 in Amarillo, Tex. US-77 in Oklahoma City, Okla. US-166 in Baxter Springs, Ks. US 71 from Joplin to Carthage, Mo. US 40 / US 50 / US 61 in St. Louis, Mo.
East end	US 41 / US 54 in Chicago, Ill.
Location
Country	United States
States	California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided

U.S. Route 66 (also known as Route 66, U.S. Highway 66, The Main Street of America, The Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway) was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year.^[4] The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through the U.S. states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, running a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).^[5] It was replaced by freeways starting in the 1950s and stopped being a highway in 1985.

1. ↑ Bureau of Public Roads & American Association of State Highway Officials (November 11, 1926). United States System of Highways Adopted for Uniform Marking by the American Association of State Highway Officials (Map). 1:7,000,000. Washington, DC: United States Geological Survey. OCLC 32889555. Retrieved November 7, 2013 – via Wikimedia Commons.
2. ↑ Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering (June 26, 1985). "Route Numbering Committee Agenda" (PDF) (Report). Duluth, MN: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Retrieved April 16, 2014 – via Wikimedia Commons.
3. ↑ Rand McNally & Company (1947). Road and Reference Atlas (Map). Chicago: Rand McNally & Company. pp. 20–21, 25, 38–39, 54–55, 72–73, 80, 104, 107, 110.
4. ↑ Route 66 Timeline
5. ↑ A table of mileposts for the original US 66 alignment of 1926