End of US highway 66

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Neil Bratney; Chris Elbert; Scott Maness; Dan Resch; Jim Teresco; Trout; me
Additional research: Neil Bratney; Scott Maness

Approx. time period East terminus West terminus
1926-1936 Chicago, IL Los Angeles, CA
1936-1964 Chicago, IL Santa Monica, CA
1964-1974 Chicago, IL Pasadena, CA
1974-1976 Chicago, IL Topock, AZ
1976-1978 Gardner, IL Topock, AZ
1978-1979 Normal, IL Topock, AZ
1979-1980 (near Joplin, MO) Topock, AZ
1980-1985 (near Joplin, MO) Kingman, AZ

"Route 66" is the most famous of all the US highways. It was officially decommissioned in 1985, but that had the unexpected effect of increasing public awareness of the old "Mother Road". It is currently enjoying tremendous popularity, and many of its historic alignments are signed with "Historic Route 66" markers.

For 50 years the east end of US 66 was in Chicago IL. Apparently the exact location of its terminus changed at least once during that time. The 1933 map below seems to indicate that US 66 ended either at Michigan Avenue or one block east of there (Columbus Drive?)

scan courtesy of Neil Bratney

Also, I have a 1947 map that indicates US 66 came in on Jackson Boulevard and ended at Michigan, which served as US 54 at the time. That seems to be the consensus of the organization that has posted the "Historic US 66" signs in Chicago; the one below is on Jackson at Michigan:

Bratney, June 2002

Also note that after 1934, US 34 was co-signed with US 66 eastward all the way from Harlem Avenue, and shared its terminus for over 50 years. An enlargement of the sign is below:

Bratney, June 2002

But I've also been told that - at some point - the US 66 designation went all the way to Lake Shore Drive, or US 41. The photo below shows the place:

Maness

We're looking east on Jackson at Lake Shore (that's Lake Michigan in the background). The photo below, taken looking the opposite direction, shows the view from what used to be the east beginning of US 66 (of course the Sears Tower wasn't there to dominate the skyline back then):

Maness

Originally Jackson carried both directions of US 66. Later it became one-way eastbound, except for this half-mile segment between Lake Shore and Michigan Avenue. Adams Street became Jackson's westbound counterpart, but it doesn't go through east of Michigan. So, westbound US 66 was routed on Jackson to Michigan, then north for one block to Adams, then west again. The shot below was taken looking west on Adams, about three blocks west of Michigan (note the Sears Tower is on the left side of this road):

Maness

It's really not legible, but that sign on the right side of the road says "Begin Historic Route 66". The shots below show the sign more clearly:

Bratney, June 2002

For the first ten years of its existence, the west end of US 66 was in downtown Los Angeles, on Broadway at 7th (US 101). The photo below is looking north on Broadway:

Resch, Sep. 2007

US 101 ran across the photo on 7th, and straight ahead was the west beginning of US 66. If you're heading the opposite direction on Broadway (south), you can see the sign below, posted at the original west terminus of US 66:

Resch, Sep. 2007

Despite what that sign says, I've heard it was actually 1936 when the US 66 designation was extended to Santa Monica, which is on the coast west of downtown LA. The photo below is looking west down Santa Monica Boulevard (historic route 66), where it ends at Ocean Avenue:

Elbert, Mar. 2005

Nearby is a Will Rogers/US 66 historical marker (click to view an 83k image). Perhaps for that reason, that intersection is often cited as the west terminus for historic US 66, but that was never the actual endpoint. Neither was the Santa Monica Pier (another vernacular endpoint of route 66). Maps as early as 1941 show that Olympic Boulevard went under Ocean Av to directly connect with the Pacific Coast Highway:

Gousha, 1961 (scan by Elbert)

US 101A wasn't routed along Ocean at all, so US 66 couldn't have ended there. Instead, route 66 traffic was directed southeast on Lincoln Boulevard to Olympic, where the designation ended at US 101A. Below is a photo from that perspective:

Elbert, Mar. 2005

Those cars are at the westernmost endpoint of US 66 - northbound US 101A was to the right on Olympic, and southbound was straight ahead on Lincoln. Today just past Olympic is the interchange with I-10 (known locally as the Santa Monica Freeway), which runs from here to Jacksonville FL: a distance of over 2400 miles.

That was the west terminus of US 66 for nearly 30 years. In 1964 CalTrans truncated it to Pasadena:

Google Maps Street View, 2008

That's looking east on Colorado Boulevard. For a time, this was the east end of CA 134, while CA 11 began to the right on Arroyo Parkway, and US 66 began straight ahead. But ultimately Caltrans didn't want US 66 at all, and within ten years they had removed the designation from their state completely - so its west end was at the Arizona state line at Topock (south of Needles):

me, July 2004

By that time, US 66 was co-signed with I-40, so it ended unceremoniously on the bridge over the river. The I-40 bypass around Kingman AZ was opened to traffic in 1980. At that time, AZDoT rerouted US 93 onto the interstate, and Alan Hamilton informs me that they also truncated the US 66 designation to I-40's exit 53 (where AZ 66 ends today):

Teresco, Oct. 2003

Meanwhile the east end of US 66 had been becoming obsolete as well: in 1976 it was truncated to Gardner IL, then to Normal IL in 1978. One year later, the US 66 designation was removed from the rest of Illinois, and most of Missouri as well. It's a little complicated, so I'll give some background: east of Joplin, US 66 originally went up through Webb City and Carthage, then followed what is now MO 96 to Springfield. At the time, US 166 followed I-44 out of Joplin (roughly), and then today's MO 174 from Mt. Vernon to Springfield. But when US 66's replacement route was complete (I-44 to St. Louis and I-55 to Chicago), it was re-routed such that it went straight east from Joplin (along old US 166) and ended at I-44's interchange 15 (where MO hwy. 66 ends today). The photo below shows that spot:

Maness

That's about 8 miles east of downtown Joplin. Business I-44 and MO 66 traffic are directed onto the ramp at right, which leads to eastbound I-44. Ahead was US 166, but now it serves as an off-ramp from westbound I-44. This is where US 66 ended from 1979 to its decommissioning in 1985. If you were to continue ahead about a quarter-mile and then turn around, you'd see what's shown in the photo below:

Maness

That's looking the opposite direction (west). Westbound I-44 exits and comes in from the lower left, and aligns due west ahead on what becomes 7th Street Joplin in a few miles. At lower right is old US 166, which is now just a frontage road for I-44 (or "outer road", as they call them in Missouri). This was the east beginning of US 66 for its final six years.