Historic Route 66.TheStory of America's"Mother Road"

The idea for Route66 started in Oklahoma.Citizens there wanted to link their state with states tothe east and west.By the l920s,federal officials wanted to connect state

roads to provide ashorter,faster way across the country.So a plan was developed to connectexisting state roads into one long national highway.

2.United StatesHighway 66 was established on November 11,1926.It was one of the first federalhighways .It crossed eight states.It was 3,800 kilometers long.Route 66

became the mostfamous road in America.It passed through the center of many cities and towns.Itcrossed deserts, mountains,valleys and rivers.

3.In the1930s,people suffered through the Great Depression.In Oklahoma,manypoor families lost their farms because of dust storms.So they traveled west to California on

Route 66 in searchof a better life.In 1939,John Steinbeck wrote about these families in"TheGrapes of Wrath."

4.In hisbook,Steinbeck wrote."66-the long concrete path across the country,wavinggently up and down on the map,over the red lands and the gray lands,twisting upinto the

mountains, crossingthe Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert,and across the desertto the mountains again,and into the rich Californiavalleys."Steinbeck

wrote."66 is thepath of a people in flight,refugees from dust and shrinking land.66 is themother road,the road of flight."

5.In 1946,thesongwriter Bobby Troup and his wife drove across the country to Los Angeles.Hewrote a song about traveling on Route 66 .The song told people they could

have fun,could gettheir kicks,on that drive.In Los Angeles,Bobby Troup took the song to Nat KingCole,who recorded it.It became a huge hit.

6.In the1950s,holiday travel brought more and more families out West to explore.Route66 represented the spirit of movement and excitement.In the 1960s,Americans

watched a populartelevision series called"Route 66."It was the story of two young mendriving across the country.The show was filmed in cities and towns across

America.Yet only afew shows were filmed on the real Route 66.

7.In reallife,people were getting fewer and fewer kicks on Route 66.By 1962,parts of theroad were closed because they were in poor condition.The federal government was

building biggerhighways .Cars and trucks could travel at higher speeds.People started drivingon these new interstate highways instead of the old Route 66 .Finally,in

1985,Route 66 wasofficially removed from the national highway system.People have formed groupsto save parts of the old 66 and many of the interesting places to eat,stay

and see along theway.Route 66 was builtbecause citizens in Oklahomawanted to link their state with states to______.

A.the nationalhighway system

B.the east and west

C.the federalgovernment

D.movement andexcitement

E.the north