Tuesday, January 6, 2026

US-66 (Route 66), US-20 and US-40 (National Road) Overviews

I went to add the following US-20 overview to the US-66 overview, but discovered I don't have an overview for Route 66. (I do have an overview for US-30 (Lincoln Highway).)


Route 66 is also called the Mother Road.
route66-map

The alignments are color coded:
Red = oldest alignments. 20’s – 30’s
Brown = 30’s – 40’s
Green = 40’s – 50’s
"The last alignments were Interstates and are not drawn on the map."

The route66-map is interactive. For example:
Digitally Zoomed

"Route 66 had its official beginnings in 1926 when the Bureau of Public Roads launched the nation’s first Federal highway system....Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced U.S. 66 over the next three decades [1960-89]. Interstate construction coincided with the powerful forces of economic consolidation as evidenced by the growth of branded gasoline stations, motels, and restaurant chains. The 1984 bypassing of the last section of U.S. 66 by I-40 led to the official decommissioning of the highway in 1985, impacting countless businesses and communities along the road." [nps]

Features along US-66 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.
Illinois has a lot of tourist information concerning the route. The have brochures in German, Mandarin and Japanese as well as English. This is a page from their maps pdf.
pdf, p2 via IllinoisRoute66

This is an excerpt from the English brochure.
IllinoisRoute66_english

nps_000
[The nps has a lot of information. Unfortunately, I started getting "can't be reached" error messages before I could look at most of the webpages. I could still access any non-nps webpage.]

I knew that Route 66 used to use Joliet Road through some of the western suburbs of Chicago. But I didn't know how it got from Ogden down to Joliet Road. I see that Google Maps now labels the route. I added a red line to mark that part of Joliet Road that has been closed because the McCook Quarry undermined the road.
Satellite plus Paint
.

US-20


Exploring Historic Route 20 posted
Happy New Year!!  Historic Route 20 is a 3365 mile highway that stretches from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon.
Is considered the longest federal highway in the United States.
Route 20 is not continuous, however, as some social media posts claim.  There is a break in Yellowstone National Park from its east entrance to its west entrance.  
The 3365 mile reference was calculated way back in 1989 and has not sufficiently been updated since this time.  It took into account alternate routes, such US 20A in New York and Ohio. 
However, our calculations have determined that if you were to drive continuously from Boston to Oregon and through Yellowstone National Park, this number is pretty accurate.
Route 20 travels through 12 states and is the longest highway in several of those states.
Route 20 was officially announced in November 19 25 and became official in November 1926.  It is the same date as other famous highways such as Route 66.
While the entire route could be seen in under one week of travel, two weeks of sufficient to see many of the sites - yet 20 days gets you more. 
This image is our first ever postcard image that we ever made of the highway back in 2012 when we began the organization.

Features along US-20 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.
.

US-40 (National Road)


nps_national
"The National Road was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. The road was authorized by Congress in 1806 during the Jefferson Administration. Construction began in Cumberland, Maryland in 1811. The route closely paralleled the military road opened by George Washington and General Braddock in 1754-55.  By 1818 the road had been completed to the Ohio River at Wheeling, which was then in Virginia. Eventually the road was pushed through central Ohio and Indiana reaching Vandalia, Illinois in the 1830's where construction ceased due to a lack of funds. The National Road opened the Ohio River Valley and the Midwest for settlement and commerce."

Features along US-40 that I have noted, ordered from east to west, then oldest to newest.

No comments:

Post a Comment