# Could new legislation lead to a Route 66 economic revival?



## TinCan782 (Jul 3, 2018)

_*The 2,448 mile-long highway that once wound from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, may soon have a new title: National Historic Trail.*_

https://theconversation.com/could-new-legislation-lead-to-a-route-66-economic-revival-98601


----------



## railiner (Jul 3, 2018)

FrensicPic said:


> _*The 2,448 mile-long highway that once wound from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, may soon have a new title: National Historic Trail.*_
> 
> https://theconversation.com/could-new-legislation-lead-to-a-route-66-economic-revival-98601


That's a great article....thanks so much for posting it. I am a fan of old maps, and the old US-numbered highway system. At one time, my ambition was to acquire a motorhome, and upon retirement, start at one end of each of them, and travel to the other...east to west, and north to south...

Long before the Route 66 "Mother Road", was the first coast-to-coast signed Lincoln Highway, later numbered mostly US-1, US-30, and US-40, from New York to San Francisco.

A young West Point grad, Lt. Dwight D Eisenhower, led the first coast to coast Army convoy over its mostly unpaved route way back in 1919. It is said, the hardship they endured planted the seed decades later, along with his experience on the German Autobahn, to establish the Interstate Highway system.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/in-1919-dwight-d-eisenhower-suffered-through-historys-worst-cross-country-road-trip

Another ironic twist of history was the "Good Roads Movement" mentioned in the article. Among some other's, the Southern Railway was one of its strongest supporter's in an endeavor that would come back to "bite it" later....

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/highwayhistory/dodge/03.cfm

I am sad to see the "decommisioning" of several thru US-numbered highways into state numbered highways, such as US-99 in the west.


----------



## PRR 60 (Jul 5, 2018)

A somewhat interesting factoid is that two of the original transcontinental highways - US 30 and US 40 - each had their eastern origination in Atlantic City, NJ. US 30 from Atlantic City to Astoria, OR, and US 40 from Atlantic City to San Francisco.


----------



## railiner (Jul 5, 2018)

Another transcontinental highway that ended in San Francisco for a period of its existence, was US-50, which started in Ocean City, Md.


----------

