Aug 29 2008
The Interstate System and the Demise of Route 66
National interest in Route 66 began to decline in the mid-50s. Cars were bigger; and better, wider roads were needed. Route 66 was narrow and treacherous in spots, and couldn’t accommodate the larger cars. Also, because of the heavy military vehicles that used the road during the war, and the increase in vacation traffic following, the road was deteriorating.
In the mid 1950s, President Eisenhower convinced Congress to pass the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, providing the financial structure to build a national highway system similar to Germany’s Autobahn, which Eisenhower had seen during the war.
With the passage of this bill, construction began on better, wider, faster highways. Instead of going through towns as Route 66 had done, these new highways bypassed towns, eliminating stop signs and traffic controls. Towns that had once flourished along Route 66 now struggled to remain in existence.
Route 66 was replaced by a series of interstates. In some cases, old Route 66 was used as part of the new roads. In other instances, the new roads ran parallel to Route 66, and Route 66 was relegated to a frontage road.
The first bypass of Route 66 occurred in Oklahoma, between Oklahoma City and Tulsa in 1953 with the construction of the Turner Turnpike. Williams, Arizona was the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed, by Interstate 40, in October of 1984.
The road was officially decommissioned as a highway in 1985, and all traces of Route 66 disappeared from maps. Highway signs marking Route 66 as US Highway 66 were also removed.
Portions of Route 66 do still exist, and the eight states through which the historic highway passed are all working to preserve their piece of American history.
