Highway system. One of the original federal routes, US 66 was established on November 11th, , though signs did not go up until the following year. Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments. The often romanticized highway represents an outstanding example of the transition from dirt track to superhighway. Not only does Route 66 underscore the importance of the automobile as a technological achievement, but, perhaps equally important to the American psyche, it symbolized unprecedented freedom and mobility for every citizen who could afford to own and operate a car.
Escalating numbers of motor vehicles and the rise of the trucking industry increased the need for improved highways. In response the federal government pledged to link small town USA with all of the metropolitan capitals. The railroad and later Route 66 would follow their alignment. Both were part of the alignment of Route 66 in New Mexico. The Native American Mojave Trail was also used by the Spanish in California , and later followed in part by the transcontinental railroad and US Pioneers pushed the frontiers of America westwards, they used the trapper trails, crossed the Mississippi River and cut trails across the Ozarks into central Missouri in the mid s.
They founded towns and villages, smelt iron, farmed. The dirt tracks they built would later become the alignment of better roads like the "Wire Road" built next to the telegraph line laid down during the Civil War from St. In the meantime the U. The fastest transport in the nineteenth century was the train; the first Transcontinental Railroad was completed in across the northern part of America. A southern link was completed in New Orleans to Los Angeles. In , the U. Congress commissioned Amiel Weeks Whipple - , a Captain of the Army Topographical Corps, to survey a proposed transcontinental railroad.
The outcome was a network of wagon trails into the Far West. Four years later, Congress instructed Lt. His expedition charted a route which would be used by thousands of migrants on their way to California. And was the basis for the roads which would later cross the region, like Route His route linked what are now the towns of Albuquerque , Grants , Winslow and Flagstaff with California.
Although automobiles had been around since the late s, they began to become more popular towards the end of the first decade of the twentieth century. The automobile experienced a boom in the early s passing from , registered vehicles in to 17 million in And the increase in cars led to a growing demand for better roads and a coherent network of highways.
Cars transformed the nation and the world. It simplified the way people could move about: turning the key in the ignition was much easier than saddling a horse It modified family life, jobs, horizons: people could travel further, quicker and in a flexible manner. It was more adaptable than taking a train. It even modified urban landscapes: blacksmith shops were replaced by garages and gas stations.
Hotels by motels and restaurants by drive-ins. They lobbied actively demanding a hands-on approach by the Federal government via subsidies for building a paved highway across America. The odd name of the Association: "National Old Trails" referred to the corridors proposed by the activists: they would retrace the historic trails of the pioneers that settled the West.
The route would link Washington with St. The original to Santa Fe Loop of Route 66 from Albuquerque to Romeroville was aligned along the "National Old Trails", and to the west, from Albuquerque all the way to Los Angeles the road more or less follows the original N.
T dirt highway. He was an entrepreneur a teacher and a very active promoter of travel and tourism. He foresaw the importance of the automobile in America and created the Ozark Trail in to promote good roads, road signs and maps to make it easier to drive cars across America. As there were no Federal highways at that time, monuments shaped like pyramids or obelisks were erected at key locations and the mileage to major cities were painted on the markers. One can still be seen in Oklahoma Between Stroud and Davenport.
There was another one at Romeroville the western terminus of the Ozark Trail, where it met the N. The first legislation was passed in , the "Federal Aid Road Act", which was the beginning of federal government assistance for state highway costs.
It was meant to improve any rural road over which the U. It obliged the states to have highway departments to design, build and upkeep the roads. But it had not been conceived within the coherent network laid down by the Act. The Federal Highway Act of set up a multiyear plan of federal funding for the program.
It began a federal-state partnership which has endured to this day. Congress passed this Act to create a National highway system funded by the Federal government. It was to be an interstate network linking the country. Before this Act, the country had about 2. The Pontiac Trail symbol shield, www. An example of the improvements these laws brought is the Pontiac Trail built in as the main road linking Chicago,IL with St. It even had its own shield sign image.
Illinois issued a bond in to build decent surfaced roads; and the Pontiac Trail became a state highway: SBI 4 or State Bond Issue highway number 4. As the automobile became more popular, the masses took to the roads, and what was once an adventure for the wealthy and the brave , became commonplace. Americans could now roam across America, free and unchallenged. But a choherent National network of highways was necessary. January 5, — Missouri was the third state to completely pave its portion of Route 66, following Illinois and Kansas.
The work crew tosses coins into the wet cement to celebrate the completion. It was closed in but still stands as a museum today. Until the responsibility to improve existing highways fell almost exclusively to the individual states. The more assertive and financially prepared states met the challenge. The U. Government puts thousands of unemployed male youths from virtually every state to work as laborers on road gangs to pave the final stretches of Route Primary Menu Skip to content.
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