Route 66 advocates applaud plan to seek National Historic Trail status for Mother Road

A proposal moving through Congress seeks to designate U.S. Route 66 as a National Historic Trail.

The highway connected Chicago to Los Angeles and was once an economic driver for small towns across a post-World War II United States.
U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Jim Inhofe announced this week the introduction of a bipartisan bill that would amend the National Trails System Act and include Route 66 in an effort to help revitalize cities and small towns that sit along the historic corridor. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill in June. Renee Charles, president of the Kansas Historic Route 66 Association, said she was “ecstatic” to hear the legislation has advanced to the Senate. Even though Kansas has the smallest stretch of Route 66, the Mother Road serves as one of the main economic factors for towns such as Galena and Baxter Springs.

“I think it’s been a large driver to the area since 2006, and it continues to be a driver,” Charles said. “More domestic travel has come through now, both in the Four-State Area and beyond. I think it’s building each year, and now if it becomes a national trail, then that’s more advertisement. I think it will bring more people.”

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