Travel the OLDEST paved concrete highway in Missouri!

[Route66Fan]

Roamin' Rich has a new video out on YouTube where he travels "the OLDEST paved concrete highway in Missouri!

[edwaleni]

Roamin' Rich has a new video out on YouTube where he travels "the OLDEST paved concrete highway in Missouri!

There were several ferries serving Cairo at the time dating back to before the Civil War.  But the one for this location did a triangle between here, Wickliffe KY and Cairo IL.

But it was not all together safe and had a history of overturns when the wind blew hard. When the new bridge opened up at Bird's Point in 1929, the Missouri side of the ferry ran a little longer due to the bridge having tolls but eventually closed after a major flood, I think in 1932. The Wickliffe ferry ran until the Cairo-Ohio River bridge was built in 1937.

[bugo]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

[edwaleni]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

There are tons of highways worthy of preservation, just like there are tons of railroads. They all can't be saved and I would like to think that US 66 gets attention because it can, not because it is anymore worthy than others.

Some states DOT's have been mounting "Historic" shields on former ROW's around the country to let people know they are on a former major route.

Recently Iowa started noting the former Auto Trails routes across the state.

There is a club that would like to preserve the original Lincoln Highway and the concrete obelisks with the blue "L" on them, but interests vary from state to state.

With road budgets so constrained and future budgets somewhat uncertain, DOT's don't have a lot of extra cash laying around for historic road preservation. They spin it off to the county highway department and let them decide what to do.

There are hundreds of archaic bridges across the country, all worthy in some fashion but simply not of interest to save. There are so many bridges DOT's want to replace and the locals want to keep the old ones because they are used to seeing them.

But when DOT's try to offload these old bridges to these local interests, they rarely are able to save them and they are scrapped for safety reasons.

We have people trying to save railroad bridges now across the country because many of them are 100+ years old and have completed their useful service and cannot be refurbished for commercial use. But from my research, perhaps 1 in 100 actually come up with the money to actually save them.

I agree, these roads represent a different way of traveling in a different era, but you just can't keep them all.

[rte66man]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

Ouch!

I believe the main reason Route 66 is so famous is Bobby Troup's song.  I'm not aware of any other song that was that popular and has been covered by so many singers. I believe it motivated people to get out and see the towns mentioned in the song. When you combine that song with the Okie migration as depicted in "The Grapes of Wrath", you have a perfect storm of fame.

[skluth]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

Ouch!

I believe the main reason Route 66 is so famous is Bobby Troup's song.  I'm not aware of any other song that was that popular and has been covered by so many singers. I believe it motivated people to get out and see the towns mentioned in the song. When you combine that song with the Okie migration as depicted in "The Grapes of Wrath", you have a perfect storm of fame.

There was also the very popular Route 66 TV show starring George Maharis, Martin Milner, and several Corvettes.

[rte66man]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

Ouch!

I believe the main reason Route 66 is so famous is Bobby Troup's song.  I'm not aware of any other song that was that popular and has been covered by so many singers. I believe it motivated people to get out and see the towns mentioned in the song. When you combine that song with the Okie migration as depicted in "The Grapes of Wrath", you have a perfect storm of fame.

There was also the very popular Route 66 TV show starring George Maharis, Martin Milner, and several Corvettes.

By the time that show came on, 66 was already losing some of it's luster as parts of 40/44/55 had already supplanted it. Also, that show never seemed to take place anywhere near 66.

[skluth]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

Ouch!

I believe the main reason Route 66 is so famous is Bobby Troup's song.  I'm not aware of any other song that was that popular and has been covered by so many singers. I believe it motivated people to get out and see the towns mentioned in the song. When you combine that song with the Okie migration as depicted in "The Grapes of Wrath", you have a perfect storm of fame.

There was also the very popular Route 66 TV show starring George Maharis, Martin Milner, and several Corvettes.

By the time that show came on, 66 was already losing some of it's luster as parts of 40/44/55 had already supplanted it. Also, that show never seemed to take place anywhere near 66.

US 66 was still very much in the public's mind through the 60's. My dad drove us from Wisconsin to California in Summer 68. Mentally, we were taking Route 66 to California despite much of it already being subsumed or bypassed by I-55/44/40/15/10. There was a nationwide mythos around Route 66 that went well beyond a Bobby Troup song, a TV show, or The Grapes of Wrath. Many of Jack Kerouac's stories were also set at or around the highway, and Kerouac considered suing the TV show's producers for loosely basing the concept around On the Road. You'd see the highway or it being mentioned in many of that era's teen movies set in California. Route 66 was the highway you and your friends used if you were going to So Cal in the 50's and 60's; there weren't many other options and none were as good or popular. And let's face it, 66 is a catchy number.

The show itself was popular enough to run four seasons and may have run longer had Maharis not left the show. (Ratings dropped after he left.) You are correct that it often was not filmed anywhere near Route 66. (I believe one episode was in Niagara Falls!) But part of the appeal was that it was filmed all over the country so the scenery was more authentic than most shows of the time. My dad was also a Chevy guy (my parents never owned a car that wasn't either a Chevy or Buick), so the new Chevettes every year was another reason we regularly watched the show. It was a good, well-written, well-acted show. The show's theme (not the Troup song) was also a hit single.

I know you liked Route 66 enough to make it part of your handle here. (Very cool, BTW.) It's probably the most famous highway ever, and certainly the most famous numbered highway even if it no longer exists. It even generates highway preservation envy apparently. I'm curious if its fame will continue as legend like the Silk Road and Appian Way.

[edwaleni]

As for the TV show "Route 66". It was filmed in and around Los Angeles and backlots in Burbank. Backlots were used to simulate the towns.

As for driving it, yes I covered the original route in 1968 while headed to Arizona. I retraced that same 1968 route in 2000 when I went to California but i didn't pick it up until Amarillo since i was coming via Dallas.

As to its notoriety, it was considered the preferred route for people moving or in many cases migrating to better opportunities in California.

Since many writers in Hollywood and TV tend to write from theirs or parents perspectives, it got more attention. If it had been called "US 60" I think it would have gotten the same type of attention.

Historic US-99 also gets a lot of attention on the west coast because many people had used it prior to I-5, especially right after WW2. If the US had flipped the numbering chart, it very well could have been US-3 with I-95 as its interstate replacement

[US71]

The sad thing is that this road is unlikely to be preserved in any form. If it were a part of US 66, they would have started preservation work 35 years ago. But it's just US 60, which is a former coast-to-coast route and US 62, which stairsteps its way from Mexico to Canada. US 66 has brand equity and brand identity, but nobody cares about US 60-62 or any of the other US highways that are just as interesting and historic as US 66 is, or even major corridors that were only served by a state route. I advocate the preservation of any and all historic highways, and I don't put US 66 on a pedestal like some do.

Fakebook has a US60 page,  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1375093766095286