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The Rearview Mirror: The End of the Road for Route 66
Ask a motorist to name an interstate that traverses the United States, and odds are they’ll say I-80 or I-95. But there was a time when they might have said The Lincoln Highway, or Route 66.
It’s the latter that has become a national icon. Designated a highway in 1926, it stretched 2,200 miles from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California before being officially decertified this week in 1985. But it remains popular, with approximately 85% of the road still navigable.
But its life as the essential cross-country highway, one that bound us together, is a fascinating one, particularly on a weekend where so many of us will hit the road to celebrate the holiday weekend with family and friends.
The first transcontinental road
Route 66 was not the first national road; that honor belongs to The Lincoln