AARoads Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on what errors you encountered at https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=33904.0
Corrected several already and appreciate your patience as we work through the rest.

Author Topic: U.S. 66 in California  (Read 30046 times)

Alex

  • Webmaster
  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 5186
  • Location: Tampa, FL
  • Last Login: February 20, 2024, 02:36:56 PM
    • AARoads
U.S. 66 in California
« on: August 28, 2010, 12:19:44 AM »

Governor gets bill to give Claremont part of Route 66

Quote
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee
Published: Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 4A
Last Modified: Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010 - 8:11 am

 

Route 66 was California's most famous highway in the the 1930s and 1940s, bringing hundreds of thousands of newcomers to Southern California from other states.

By and by, east-west traffic shifted a couple of miles south to Interstate 10, and State Route 66, as it was redesignated, became a local artery for the Inland Empire east of Los Angeles.

Nevertheless, vestiges of the old Route 66 remain, and the cities that lie along its route want to capitalize on its fame.

One by one, those cities have petitioned the state to turn over their portions of Route 66 — also called Foothill Boulevard — to local control so they can be incorporated into local development plans.

Rialto and Fontana have already taken control of their shares. On Wednesday, the state Senate gave final approval to a bill that would cede another portion to Claremont.

The measure, Senate Bill 993 by Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, was sent to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by a 35-0 vote.



County looking to replace Route 66 bridges

Board of Supervisors applying for $52 million grant for project
August 11, 2010 4:33 PM
By JESSICA CEJNAR, staff writer

Quote
The county is pursuing a $52 million federal stimulus grant to replace 130 bridges on a stretch of National Trails Highway – part of historic Route 66 – between Daggett and Needles.

The bridges the county hopes to replace were built between 1929 to 1931 and are made of wood. County officials hope to replace them with bridges made from timber kits and would be designed similar to the original bridges. The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the application to the California Transportation Commission for the grant.

County officials will know by September if its grant application was approved.

There is $600 million available to local governments through the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 2010. According to Andy Silva, spokesman for First District Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, if the county doesn’t receive the full $52 million, it will use the money it does receive to fix bridges between Amboy and Cadiz, which need to be replaced the most.

The kits the county expects to use for to replace these bridges are approved by the California Department of Transportation, are easy to put together and are historically accurate.

“The attraction of Route 66 is its history,”  he said. “You don’t want it to look like any other roadway.”

The stretch of Route 66 between Daggett and Needles is often used by the California Highway Patrol when Interstate 40 is closed.

agentsteel53

  • invisible hand
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 15374
  • long live button copy!

  • Age: 42
  • Location: San Diego, CA
  • Last Login: November 21, 2016, 09:58:39 AM
    • AARoads Shield Gallery
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2010, 10:12:53 PM »

what the Hell, we suddenly have the money to replace bridges on old 66?  What's next, we'll replace the culverts on Chuckwalla Valley Road?  Or the abandoned section of 101 with a redwood tree growing out of the deck???
Logged
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

Mikeroburst

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 8
  • Location: San Jose, CA
  • Last Login: October 19, 2011, 05:50:48 PM
    • Mikeroburst.com photos
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2010, 08:28:18 PM »

Apparently all other transportation issues in the state have been solved...

Have some of the bridges on old 66 there been replaced before? A lot of the smaller bridges over washes on the Ludlow-Goffs segment have late 40s-early 50s dates carved into them.
Logged
Mike

Quillz

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 3315
  • A Talking Pokémon

  • Age: 35
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
  • Last Login: March 15, 2024, 10:13:27 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2010, 12:20:06 AM »

With all the states that at one point had US 66 now trying to bring it back historically, makes you wonder why AASHTO can't just revive the routing altogether.
Logged

Alps

  • y u m
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 15811
  • Elimitante the truck trarffic,

  • Age: 41
  • Location: New Jersey
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 09:45:18 PM
    • Alps' Roads
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2010, 08:26:02 PM »

With all the states that at one point had US 66 now trying to bring it back historically, makes you wonder why AASHTO can't just revive the routing altogether.
Ownership's still a bitch.  States wouldn't want to take back new segments of road.  66 would keep leaving the highway and getting back on, sometimes at random points, or else just stay on the highway for long periods of time.  Your best chance to have US 66 back would be from Oklahoma City to at least St. Louis, if not still to Chicago.  But then who wants to pay for signage?

deathtopumpkins

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 2430
  • Location: Southern NH
  • Last Login: March 13, 2024, 01:10:40 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2010, 08:37:54 PM »

But then who wants to pay for signage?

Obviously the respective state DOTs are quite happy to pay for signage, considering all the "HISTORIC ROUTE 66" signs going up everywhere.
Logged
Disclaimer: All posts represent my personal opinions and not those of my employer.

Clinched Highways | Counties Visited

bugo

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 6847
  • The Devil has arrived!

  • Age: 50
  • Location: Tulsa
  • Last Login: March 15, 2024, 08:22:28 PM
    • No Frills Blog
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #6 on: September 01, 2010, 10:08:01 PM »

Ownership's still a bitch.  States wouldn't want to take back new segments of road.  66 would keep leaving the highway and getting back on, sometimes at random points, or else just stay on the highway for long periods of time.  Your best chance to have US 66 back would be from Oklahoma City to at least St. Louis, if not still to Chicago.  But then who wants to pay for signage?

The only part of 66 that could be practically brought back is the OK/KS/MO 66 stretch from El Reno, OK to Joplin, MO.  Or you could even route along the MO 96 stretch of old 66 and extend it to Springfield. 
Logged

TheStranger

  • *
  • Online Online

  • Posts: 4718
  • Last Login: Today at 03:22:40 AM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2010, 11:05:16 AM »


Ownership's still a bitch.  States wouldn't want to take back new segments of road.

Of course, if signage was based on navigation rather than maintenance...well, that's kinda the whole Historic 66 thing to begin with, isn't it?


66 would keep leaving the highway and getting back on, sometimes at random points, or else just stay on the highway for long periods of time.

Not exactly different from say US 52 in Minnesota, or US 85/87 in Colorado and Wyoming... ;)

Logged
Chris Sampang

Bickendan

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 3011
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 11:19:16 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2010, 01:56:34 AM »

With all the states that at one point had US 66 now trying to bring it back historically, makes you wonder why AASHTO can't just revive the routing altogether.
Ownership's still a bitch.  States wouldn't want to take back new segments of road.  66 would keep leaving the highway and getting back on, sometimes at random points, or else just stay on the highway for long periods of time.  Your best chance to have US 66 back would be from Oklahoma City to at least St. Louis, if not still to Chicago.  But then who wants to pay for signage?
State shouldn't have to take back segments of road -- have the city maintain it, but the signs go up.
Logged

TheStranger

  • *
  • Online Online

  • Posts: 4718
  • Last Login: Today at 03:22:40 AM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #9 on: September 05, 2010, 02:34:46 AM »

State shouldn't have to take back segments of road -- have the city maintain it, but the signs go up.

Hey, after all, Route 66 _historic_ has overheads for it in places!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/desertgirl51/2095570272/

Of course, not all states simply have route navigation emphasized over route signage being tied to maintenance - California in particular has to put in exceptions in legislative route definitions for those situations in which a signed route is not maintained by CalTrans.  (Which defeats the purpose of signing a road in the first place!)
Logged
Chris Sampang

Quillz

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 3315
  • A Talking Pokémon

  • Age: 35
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
  • Last Login: March 15, 2024, 10:13:27 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2010, 05:11:01 PM »

But then who wants to pay for signage?

Obviously the respective state DOTs are quite happy to pay for signage, considering all the "HISTORIC ROUTE 66" signs going up everywhere.
Exactly. CA is full of historic US 66 and 99 signs.
Logged

TheStranger

  • *
  • Online Online

  • Posts: 4718
  • Last Login: Today at 03:22:40 AM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #11 on: September 18, 2010, 02:16:15 PM »

Exactly. CA is full of historic US 66 and 99 signs.

I don't think Historic 99 gets as much signage as historic 66 - though there is a surprising lack of historic 66 signs per capita on Santa Monica Boulevard.

I haven't been on the old 66A alignment (Colorado Blvd and Figueroa St) through Eagle Rock to know if that area has 66 signs, though much of Foothill Boulevard/Alosta Avenue/Huntington Drive/Colorado Place/Colorado Boulevard between Pasadena and San Bernardino has them (albeit, not at the frequency of a well-signed state-maintained arterial).

Logged
Chris Sampang

Scott5114

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 19829
  • Nit picker of unprecedented pedantry

  • Age: 34
  • Location: Las Vegas, NV
  • Last Login: Today at 02:20:41 AM
    • Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #12 on: September 22, 2010, 04:43:06 AM »

I haven't been on the old 66A alignment (Colorado Blvd and Figueroa St) through Eagle Rock to know if that area has 66 signs, though much of Foothill Boulevard/Alosta Avenue/Huntington Drive/Colorado Place/Colorado Boulevard between Pasadena and San Bernardino has them (albeit, not at the frequency of a well-signed state-maintained arterial).

Well, that sounds like something you need to...Figuerout.

(I am shameless)

Karma -7
« Last Edit: September 22, 2010, 09:40:16 PM by AlpsROADS »
Logged
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

andy3175

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 1508
  • Location: San Diego, California, USA
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 02:58:36 PM
    • AARoads
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #13 on: January 07, 2016, 11:29:13 PM »

Effort to identify more segments of Historic US 66 (National Trails Highway) in Southern California, this time in the Cajon Pass area... I have not attempted to drive this myself, although I've seen several other old alignments of US 66 elsewhere in California.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20160104/NEWS/160109986

http://www.backroadswest.com/blog/forgotten-path-route-66/

Quote
There is a forgotten road in the Cajon Pass that was originally a wagon toll road built in 1861 and, later, was used by many early Route 66 travelers. There are no signs to point out this historic road or to tell you about its connection to the Mother Road but there is still evidence of where it once existed.

Early automobile travelers used this steep, narrow and hazardous road as a short cut when traveling Route 66 (although it was never used as an alignment for Route 66). Unlike old segments of 66 in the upper Cajon Pass, sections of this road can still be traveled on today.

Our trip begins at the Summit Inn located at the Cajon Summit and ends next to the truck scales located halfway through the Cajon Pass. Half of the trip is on dirt road with the other half on pavement and it can be traveled in either direction. ...

As you leave Summit Inn, turn right onto the frontage road and head south. The pavement ends in half a mile but this short distance of pavement was the alignment of Route 66. The alignment then turned right, crossed the northbound lanes of I-15 and continued down the middle of I-15.

For our trip, continue on the dirt road (when the pavement ends) as it makes a quick left and then heads south. You will quickly see how rough the road is. At a 90-degree left turn there’s a great viewpoint of the Cajon Pass on the right. ...

Past the viewpoint, the road twists and turns and a road intersection is reached. Turn right here to pass through the obvious road cut. This road cut was originally dug for the Brown Toll Road and probably hand excavated in 1861, which is when the American Civil War started. (Read more about this historical road on our website.) ...

Continue steeply down the old road south as it crosses four railroad tracks. Beyond the tracks, you might spot faint patches of pavement from the original road build in 1914. Turn right onto Highway 138. Here, the new highway was built on top of the old road. Just before 138 turns into four lanes, the old road veered off to the left. We will see the other side of that road in a moment.
Logged
Regards,
Andy

www.aaroads.com

emory

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 350
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
  • Last Login: August 20, 2020, 12:40:23 AM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #14 on: January 18, 2016, 07:36:14 PM »

Exactly. CA is full of historic US 66 and 99 signs.

I don't think Historic 99 gets as much signage as historic 66 - though there is a surprising lack of historic 66 signs per capita on Santa Monica Boulevard.

I haven't been on the old 66A alignment (Colorado Blvd and Figueroa St) through Eagle Rock to know if that area has 66 signs, though much of Foothill Boulevard/Alosta Avenue/Huntington Drive/Colorado Place/Colorado Boulevard between Pasadena and San Bernardino has them (albeit, not at the frequency of a well-signed state-maintained arterial).

There are signs on the US 66 Alt alignment, as well as the original US 66 alignment down Broadway.
Logged

andy3175

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 1508
  • Location: San Diego, California, USA
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 02:58:36 PM
    • AARoads
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #15 on: February 02, 2016, 09:57:43 AM »

Proposal to create three national monuments in the Mojave Desert, including one that follows the US 66 corridor:

Advocate site: http://www.wildlandsconservancy.org/conservation_mojave.html

Quote
The monument would preserve the most pristine, undeveloped remaining stretch of historic Route 66, the Mother Road, which is arguably the most famous highway in America - perhaps in the world. Created in 1926 as part of the nation's first system of federal highways, Route 66 became popular as the shortest, best-weather route across the country. Linking Chicago to Santa Monica, it helped transform America into the automobile-oriented society it is today. Through literature (John Steinbeck), film, television and song, it became an international icon. In 2008, the World Monuments Fund designated Route 66, along with such world heritage sites as Machu Picchu and Shanghai, as a threatened resource on their Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites. The March 2009 Smithsonian Magazine recognizes Route 66 as one of the "15 Must-See Endangered Cultural Treasures."

Article: http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Mojave-Desert-areas-on-verge-of-protection-under-6795729.php

Map from San Francisco Chronicle article:



Quote
Drive mile upon mile through California’s Mojave Desert, and you still can see the unspoiled vistas of one of the largest intact ecosystems in the continental United States.

Along Route 66 stretch the same empty valleys and distant mountains that Oklahoma farmers escaping the Dust Bowl saw in their migration west. In the vast swathes of scrub land, scientists are finding new plant species at a rate rivaling that in the Amazon. Ancient creosote bushes, like one 11,700 years old that miraculously survived in an off-road vehicle playground, live here in soils scientists only now realize are one of the planet’s great carbon sinks. ...

Within days, President Obama is expected to invoke the Antiquities Act, at Feinstein’s request, to create three national monuments preserving 1,380,350 acres of these lands, including a long stretch of Route 66. Republicans oppose the designation as executive overreach; they have proposed the same three monuments, but would open the Route 66 area to mining. ...

The Mojave Trails designation would protect 105 miles of the most pristine extant section of Route 66 and link Joshua Tree National Park with the Mojave National Preserve.
Logged
Regards,
Andy

www.aaroads.com

Desert Man

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 887
  • Age: 44
  • Location: Sou Cal USA
  • Last Login: May 14, 2021, 12:51:19 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #16 on: February 03, 2016, 12:15:01 AM »

Yes...let's save more open spaces of the California Desert! The old route 66 comes under the protection of a future national monument. Us 66 is part of my Californian and American heritage.
Logged
Get your kicks...on Route 99! Like to turn 66 upside down. The other historic Main street of America.

kendancy66

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 387
  • Age: 66
  • Location: Laguna Hills, CA
  • Last Login: March 17, 2024, 08:15:50 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #17 on: February 03, 2016, 10:06:47 PM »

Excellent idea.  Should have been done already
Logged

SimMoonXP

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 108
  • Age: 39
  • Location: Poway, California
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 08:25:31 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2016, 12:21:33 AM »

Great map, Andy Field! It would be sure more adventure for adding new proposed monuments in Mojave Desert area in someday in the future as when the time is right!
Logged

Quillz

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 3315
  • A Talking Pokémon

  • Age: 35
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
  • Last Login: March 15, 2024, 10:13:27 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #19 on: February 13, 2016, 12:32:56 AM »

So, was the act actually passed?
Logged

Desert Man

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 887
  • Age: 44
  • Location: Sou Cal USA
  • Last Login: May 14, 2021, 12:51:19 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #20 on: February 13, 2016, 04:19:16 PM »

So, was the act actually passed?

The LA Times had an article about the act officially passed and 3 new national monuments will be created (Google search for more news articles).
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-monuments-20160212-story.html
Logged
Get your kicks...on Route 99! Like to turn 66 upside down. The other historic Main street of America.

andy3175

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 1508
  • Location: San Diego, California, USA
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 02:58:36 PM
    • AARoads
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #21 on: February 14, 2016, 11:06:26 PM »

Yup, here is the official proclamation for Mojave Trails National Monument, which encompasses the US 66 route. Still looking for official monument boundary maps.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/12/presidential-proclamation-establishment-mojave-trails-national-monument

Quote
The Mojave Trails area has been a critical travel corridor for millennia, linking the Pacific Coast to the deserts of the southwest and beyond.  The Mojave Indian Trail is the earliest known travel route passing through the Mojave Trails area, used by Native Americans for thousands of years and by early Spanish explorers and traders.  In 1829, Mexican explorer Antonio Armijo pioneered the Old Spanish Trail through this area.  Evidence of the trail, now designated a National Historic Trail, can still be found at Afton Canyon.

By the end of the 19th century, transcontinental rail travel had changed the American West in profound ways.  In 1882, Southern Pacific constructed a railroad route from Barstow to Needles.  In addition to the major rail stops established at Needles and Barstow, several smaller towns and rail stops were established along this stretch, including the alphabetically named Amboy, Bristol, Cadiz, Danby, Essex, Fenner, and Goffs. These towns remain, some as inhabited hamlets and others as abandoned ghost towns, and some historical artifacts from the original rail line still exist, including original rail ties and track and later improvements of communications poles, insulators, and wires.

A modest dirt road -- an original trackside component of the railroad project -- would later become the most famous highway in America.  In 1911, in the infancy of the automobile era, the County of San Bernardino paved the first stretch of that road from Barstow to Needles.  The next year, this stretch became part of the National Old Trails Road, which extended more than 3,000 miles from New York, New York, to Los Angeles, California, and connected the American coasts by pavement for the first time.  In 1926, the road was officially designated as U.S. Highway 66, a designation soon known around the world as Route 66.  During the 1930s, Route 66 became an important route for migrants escaping economic hardships of the Great Depression and droughts in the Central plains.  As the national economy rebounded following World War II, Americans took to the highways in unprecedented numbers.  The road became an American icon, earning the nickname the "Main Street of America" and inspiring popular culture through music, literature, and film.

The popularity of Route 66, however, hastened its downfall; increasing traffic quickly exceeded its two-lane capacity.  In 1985, Route 66 was officially decommissioned, leaving behind a powerful albeit fragmented narrative history of America's automobile culture of the first half of the 20th century and its legacy of related commerce and architecture.  The Mojave Trails area contains the longest remaining undeveloped stretch of Route 66, offering spectacular and serene desert vistas and a glimpse into what travelers experienced during the peak of the route's popularity in the mid-20th century.  Today, the ghost towns along this stretch of Route 66 are a visual legacy of how the automobile shaped the American landscape.
Logged
Regards,
Andy

www.aaroads.com

AndyMax25

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 113
  • Location: Los Angeles, CA
  • Last Login: February 20, 2024, 11:51:32 PM
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #22 on: November 12, 2016, 12:03:11 AM »

City of Santa Monica has posted historic Route 66 signs along Santa Monica Blvd and Lincoln Blvd. Here is a photo with an end tab at the original official end at Olympic. This where US66 ended at US101A. After decommissioning, this intersection was the junction of SR1 and SR2.

Logged

Max Rockatansky

  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 24921
  • Age: 41
  • Location: Route 9, Sector 26
  • Last Login: Today at 12:44:16 AM
    • Gribblenation
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #23 on: November 12, 2016, 04:42:25 PM »

Sure posted it high enough...unfortunately I bet someone will try to still steal it sooner or later. 
« Last Edit: November 13, 2016, 12:19:28 AM by Max Rockatansky »
Logged

andy3175

  • *
  • *
  • Offline Offline

  • Posts: 1508
  • Location: San Diego, California, USA
  • Last Login: March 18, 2024, 02:58:36 PM
    • AARoads
Re: U.S. 66 in California
« Reply #24 on: November 13, 2016, 12:16:37 AM »

City of Santa Monica has posted historic Route 66 signs along Santa Monica Blvd and Lincoln Blvd. Here is a photo with an end tab at the original official end at Olympic. This where US66 ended at US101A.

Great! Glad to see the endpoint of Historic US 66 signed at Lincoln and Olympic. I'll bet you had something to do with its placement. This is more accurate than the "End of Trail" sign on Santa Monica Pier, since US 66 itself never extended onto the Pier itself.

Logged
Regards,
Andy

www.aaroads.com

 


Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.