Route 66 Forgotten Places Abandoned Attractions Author:Mark J. Watts Route 66 linked the heart of the United States with the California coast. Officially completed in 1926. A continuous road linking Chicago, Illinois and Santa Monica, California. 2224 miles. — Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean. Millions of people traveled the old Route. Many were migrating from the American Midwest to what they hoped to be a bett... more »er life in the West. Motels, campgrounds, gas stations, tourist attractions grew along the road. Cities and towns flourished. Fortunes were made and lost.
As the official east to west artery of the country, the last few miles of Route 66 were officially decommissioned in 1984, replaced by the faster Interstate highway system. Most of the old Route survives as state, access and service roads, in a few locations the Interstate covered Route 66, but in many areas the old road is still intact.
Although the original design has been sometimes abandoned, paved over by Interstate or turned back into a regional or country road. In some areas, the Interstate is only a few miles away from the old Route 66, other times the Route moves far away from the doldrums of the 4 lane.
The photographs in this book, (all GPS tagged), show the old Route; the space, the sky, the land...