ROUTE 66 - THE MOTHER ROAD

By Debbie Bulloch



Much of the day today has been spent remembering the victims of the cowardly terrorist attack of 09.11.01. There has been enough sadness, compressed into one single day, to last for a lifetime of tears. So I thought that I would end the day by bringing you a piece of genuine American folklore.

Route 66 is the stuff of legend. So please join me in this magical, mystery trip on America's Mother Road.



If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, the highway that's the best.
Get your kicks on Route 66!

U.S. Route 66, (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the American humorist, and colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road") is a magical strip of blacktop that once reached from Chicago, Illinois in the heart of the Midwest to sunny Santa Monica, on the California Pacific coast.



Since its creation, Route 66 has been the stuff of legend – songs have been written about it, a television show was named after it and countless stories and movies ( most recently Disney/Pixar’s Cars ) have featured the “Mother Road.” In fact, it was American novelist John Steinbeck who in his 1939 classic novel, Grapes of Wrath proclaimed Route 66 as the “Mother Road.” A year later, when a movie based on the novel was made in Hollywood, it immortalized Route 66 in the American consciousness. Shortly after that, more than 200,000 people migrated to California to escape the Dust Bowl of the Midwest, symbolizing the highway as the “road to opportunity.”



Route 66 represented unprecedented freedom to travel across the American West. Spawned by the rapidly changing demands of America, entrepreneurs, Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri conceived of the grand idea of linking Chicago to Los Angeles and began lobbying efforts to promote the new highway. While other East/West highways existed at the time, most followed a linear course, leaving out the rural communities, dependent upon transportation for farm products and other goods.



The Mother Road was a major path for the migrants who went West, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The road supported the economies of the communities through which it passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous due to the growing popularity of the highway. Those same people later fought to keep the highway alive even with the growing threat of being bypassed by the new Interstate Highway System.

Perhaps more than any other American highway, the Mother Road symbolized a new positive outlook that spread through the nation’s postwar economic recovery. For thousands of returning servicemen and their families, Route 66 was more than just a highway. "It became," according to one admirer, "an icon of free-spirited independence linking the United States across the Rocky Mountain divide to the Pacific Ocean."



In spite of its immense popularity and near magical mystique, Route 66 was doomed. The beginning of the end for Route 66 came in 1956 with the signing of the Interstate Highway Act by President Dwight Eisenhower. President Eisenhower, who was influenced by his appreciation of the German Autobahn, was convinced that a network of modern, “super highways” crossing the USA was a necessary component of a national defense system.

Doomed or not, however, by the 1960s many points of interest along Route 66 had become familiar landmarks to a new generation of travelers. The television series, “Route 66,” was aired “driving” the Mother Road into homes all over America. Though the series created great interest in the American public, it was to be short-lived, as by 1970, nearly all segments of original Route 66 were bypassed by modern four-lane highways.



In 1984, Arizona saw its final stretch of Route 66 decommissioned when the final section of the original road was bypassed by Interstate 40 at Williams, Arizona. With decertification of the highway by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials the following year, U.S. Route 66 officially ceased to exist.

Almost as soon as Route 66 was decommissioned, efforts began to preserve it. Route 66 associations were founded in Arizona (1987) and Missouri (1989). Other groups in the other Route 66 states soon followed. In 1990, the state of Missouri declared Route 66 in that state a "State Historic Route". The first "Historic Route 66" marker in Missouri was erected on Kearney Street at Glenstone Avenue in Springfield, Missouri. Other historic markers now line the entire 2,400 mile (3,860 km) length of road.



Even the Federal government, which was originally responsible for the early demise of Route 66, has now become involved in the preservation efforts. In 1999, the National Route 66 Preservation Bill was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton. The Preservation Bill provided for $10M in matching fund grants for preserving and restoring the historic features along the route.

As the popularity and mythical stature of Route 66 has continued to grow, demands have begun to mount to improve signage, return Route 66 to road atlases and revive its status as a continuous routing.

The glory days of Route 66 may well be over. As long, however, as its memory lives in music, literature and film, Route 66 will never be fully off the map.





Well, I’m a standing on a corner
In Winslow, Arizona
And such a fine sight to see
Its a girl, my lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowing down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I got to know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me

Finally, I found this music video from the band Threadspinners. I think it is a nice number and a good way to end the week and start the weekend.



Enjoy!