End of US highway 66 |
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Summa
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Summa
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1926-1935
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1935-1964
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1964-1972
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1972-1977
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1977-1979
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1979-1985
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Note: this page contains information about the mileage of US 66 during some of those timeframes, and the shifting location of its midpoint during those years.
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"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 has since enjoyed tremendous popularity, and many segments of its historic alignments are signed with "Historic Route 66" markers. This map showing the original extent of US 66 was included in a 1931 US Dept. of Agriculture Office of Information press release, issued shortly after the US routes were commissioned:
c. 1927, US Government Printing Office
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For about 50 years the east end of US 66 was in Chicago. From the outset, the west end of US 66 was defined as Los Angeles, but it was not actually signposted anywhere in L.A. until 1931. It's complicated, but you can read more about it on the Los Angeles page.
In 1935 the US 66 designation was extended west from L.A. to the Pacific coast at Santa Monica. This photo was looking west down Santa Monica Boulevard, where it ends at Ocean Avenue: |
Elbert, Mar. 2005
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Nearby is a Will Rogers/US 66 historical marker. 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 purported endpoint of Route 66).
In Feb. 1936 a tunnel was completed, allowing Olympic Boulevard to pass under Ocean Av and directly connect with the Pacific Coast Highway: |
c. 1961, Gousha
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US 101A was not routed along Ocean at all, so US 66 could not have ended there. Instead, Route 66 traffic was directed southeast on Lincoln Boulevard to Olympic, where the designation ended at US 101A. These photos were taken from that perspective; "End" and "Begin" signage was added to this intersection in 2016:
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Elbert, Mar. 2005
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Maximous, Nov. 2016
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Incidentally: just past Olympic today is the interchange with I-10. Known locally as the Santa Monica Freeway, I-10 runs from here to Jacksonville FL: a distance of over 2400 miles.
This photo was taken looking southwest on Olympic; US 66 began to the right on Lincoln: |
c. 1964, Caltrans
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(Incidentally, "The Penguin" no longer exists, but that building still stands, and as of 2018 its outdoor signage still features a penguin.) That was the west terminus of US 66 for nearly 30 years, but later that same year (1964) CalTrans truncated it to Pasadena:
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c. 1970, Caltrans
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This interactive image is 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:
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But ultimately Caltrans didn't want US 66 at all, and within ten years they had removed the designation from their state completely, such that its west end was at Needles, just shy of the Arizona state line.
It was not long before Arizona started to remove US 66 signage along I-40 in their state too. In fact, there is evidence that by the mid-1970s the only place in Arizona where US 66 was still signposted was the stretch that diverged from the I-40 corridor (between Seligman and Kingman). Someone wrote with their recollection that there was an "End US 66" assembly posted in Kingman at I-40's exit 53 (where AZ 66 ends today)... |
Teresco, Oct. 2003
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...however, Arizona did not make that official with AASHTO until 1979, when they obtained permission to truncate the route all the way to Sanders (which is not far from the New Mexico line):
That was the final western terminus of US 66, until the route was decommissioned in its entirety in 1985. Meanwhile, the east end of US 66 was becoming obsolete as well: in 1974 Illinois and Missouri obtained AASHTO's permission to truncate the route between Chicago and Scotland (outside of Joplin)...
...although apparently signage between those points was not removed until 1977. 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.
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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). This photo shows that spot:
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Maness
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That is in Scotland, about eight 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 one were to continue ahead about a quarter-mile and then turn around, this photo shows that perspective:
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Maness
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That is 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 are referred to in Missouri). That was the east beginning of US 66 for its final six years. This photo shows a work crew replacing US 66 shields with Missouri 66 signs:
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July 1985, Joplin
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That was only about one month after AASHTO's June 1985 meeting, which is when they approved the elimination of the US 66 designation, from Missouri all the way to Arizona:
Research and/or photo credits: Chris Elbert; Tom Fearer; Scott Maness; Andrew Maximous; Dan Resch; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Joe Sonderman; Michael Summa; Jim Teresco
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Sep. 2, 2022.
last updated Sep. 2, 2022.
