route 66 ended at los angeles county, california.
route 66 ended at los angeles county, california.
where does route 66 end?
los angeles county, california
u.s. route 66 or u.s. highway 66 (us 66 or route 66), also known as the will rogers highway, the main street of america or the mother road, was one of the original highways in the u.s. highway system. us 66 was established on november 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. the highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the united states, originally ran from chicago, illinois, through missouri, kansas, oklahoma, texas, new mexico, and arizona before ending in santa monica in los angeles county, california, covering a total of . it was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song "(get your kicks on) route 66" and the "route 66" television series, which aired on cbs from 1960 to 1964. in john steinbeck's classic american novel, "the grapes of wrath" (1939), the road, "highway 66", was turned into a powerful symbol of escape and loss.
u.s. route 66
when in 1977 the construction of interstate 55 detoured u.s. route 66 in a gradual curve around the northwest side of towanda, a 3-1/4 mile section of southbound route 66 was closed off to motorized traffic and abandoned. between 1998 and 2000, a not-for-profit student and community project created the towanda historic route 66 parkway, also known as the historic route 66 trail (as seen on google maps), on a 2.5-mile stretch of the old disused route 66 roadway between the south end of towanda and a point about 3 miles northeast, where interstate 55 swings east to meet up with and once again closely parallel historic route 66. the parkway, an ongoing project that preserved the money creek bridge north of town on route 66 and begins about 750 feet northeast of the bridge, also includes an outdoor educational exhibit on the history of route 66 called “historic route 66: a geographic journey” that details the path of route 66 through all eight states. this exhibit extends from the intersection of historic route 66 and jefferson street near the i-55 interchange to a point at the southern tip of town just past an unnamed pond off of historic route 66 (at 40.557656, -88.908876), where there is a rest stop and parking area for catfish and bass fishing in the pond. the stretch of the parkway where the exhibit was erected is a subset of the overall towanda trail, which includes a three-flagpole garden on the ne corner of jefferson and route 66, several picnic areas along the length of the trail, scattered birdhouses and intermittent landscaped areas extending from the money creek bridge to the south end of the pond. the trail and parkway exhibit, now a popular local tourist stop on historic route 66, continue to be improved on an irregular basis, and the progress of improvements is detailed on the project website.
towanda, illinois