Hot Air Balloons over
Route 66 near Pontiac |
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Hot Air balloons over Route 66 near Pontiac, Illinois. U.S. Route 66,
(also known as Route 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 federal routes, US 66 was established
on November 11, 1926, though signs did not go up until the following
year. It originally ran from Chicago, Illinois through Missouri,
Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California before
ending at Los Angeles for a total of 2,448 miles (3,939 km).
Route 66 was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially
during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and supported the economies
of the communities through which the road passed. People became
prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway, and
those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even
with the growing threat of the new Interstate Highway System.
US 66 was officially decommissioned (that is, officially removed
from the United States Highway System) on June 27, 1985 after
it was decided the route was no longer relevant and had been
replaced by the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road
that passed through Illinois, New Mexico, and Arizona have been
designated a National Scenic Byway of the name "Historic
Route 66". It has begun to return to maps in this form. |
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