U.S. Route 66

U.S. Route 66
Will Rogers Memorial Highway
The final routing of U.S. Route 66 in red, with earlier alignments in pink
Route information
Length	2,448 mi (3,940 km)
Existed	November 11, 1926 (1926-11-11)[1]–June 26, 1985 (1985-06-26)[2]
Tourist routes	Historic Route 66
Major junctions
West end	Santa Monica, California
East end	Chicago, Illinois
Location
Country	United States
States	California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided
← US 65 → US 67

U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year.^[3] The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).^[4]

It was recognized in popular culture by both the 1946 hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It was also featured in the Disney/Pixar animated feature film franchise Cars, beginning in 2006. In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the highway symbolizes escape, loss, and the hope of a new beginning; Steinbeck dubbed it the Mother Road. Other designations and nicknames include the Will Rogers Highway and the Main Street of America, the latter nickname shared with U.S. Route 40.

US 66 was a primary route for those who migrated west, especially during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, and it supported the economies of the communities through which it passed. People doing business along the route became prosperous, and they later fought to keep it alive in the face of the growing threat of being bypassed by the more advanced controlled-access highways of the Interstate Highway System in the 1960s and 70s.

US 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, but it was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985^[2] after it was entirely replaced by segments of the Interstate Highway System. Portions of the road that passed through Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona have been communally designated a National Scenic Byway by the name "Historic Route 66", returning the name to some maps.^[5][6] Several states have adopted significant bypassed sections of the former US 66 into their state road networks as State Route 66 and much of the former route within San Bernardino County, California, is designated as County Route 66. The corridor is also being redeveloped into U.S. Bicycle Route 66, a part of the United States Bicycle Route System that was developed in the 2010s.