U.S. Route 66 (US 66, Route 66) also known as the Will Rogers Highway, was a major United States Numbered Highway in the state of Arizona from November 11, 1926, to June 26, 1985. US 66 covered a total of through Arizona. The highway ran from west to east, starting in Needles, California, through Kingman and Seligman to the New Mexico state line. Nationally, US 66 ran from Santa Monica, California, to Chicago, Illinois. In its height of popularity, US 66 was one of the most popular highways in the state of Arizona, sometimes carrying over one million cars a year.
In the early years, US 66 had to compete with other major U.S. Highways for construction and improvement funding. The highway also played an important role during the Dust Bowl as a means for refugees (also known as "Okies") to escape the ruined farmlands of the Great Plains and migrate to California. Experiences of these refugees traveling through Arizona were largely detailed in John Steinbeck's novel, The Grapes of Wrath, and the 1940 movie adaption that followed. During the mid-20th century, the highway became a tourist destination, spawning the existence of several new motels, restaurants and other road-side businesses and attractions.
With the introduction of Interstate 40 (I-40), US 66 began declining considerably, with some of the towns along the highway becoming ghost towns. Following the completion of I-40, US 66 was completely decommissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) in 1984, then retired nationwide the following year. Significant portions of the old highway remain, such as State Route 66 (SR 66) between Kingman and the Yavapai–Coconino county line east of Peach Springs. Since 1987, other sections have been designated as Historic Route 66, which is both an Arizona Historic Road and a National Scenic Byway.
Route description
US 66 was one of the main transcontinental highways in Arizona, serving as the main east–west highway through the northern end of the state. Nationally, US 66 ran from Chicago, Illinois, to the Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area. The highway in Arizona was over in its earlier years, between California and New Mexico. The route originally went from Topock through Oatman to Kingman. Later, the route between Topock and Kingman was switched to an alignment going through Yucca.
From Kingman, US 66 went northeast to Peach Springs before heading southeast to Seligman. Between Seligman and the New Mexico state line near Lupton, US 66 traveled the same basic route I-40 takes today, through Flagstaff, Winslow and Holbrook. Save for several city streets east of Flagstaff, most of US 66 has either been cut off, abandoned, destroyed or rebuilt into sections of I-40. Notable exceptions include the original route through Oatman, SR 66, multiple current and former I-40 Business Loops and Townsend–Winona Road from US 89 to I-40 in Winona. Several sections of the highway no longer part of the Arizona State Highway System are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The following route description roughly follows the path US 66 would have traversed across Arizona in 1940.
California border to Kingman
US 66 entered Arizona from Needles, California, on the Old Trails Bridge across the Topock Gorge and Colorado River, within the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, arriving in Topock, Arizona. The route headed northeast, where it crossed the path of present-day I-40 and the BNSF Railway (formerly the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway). The highway then curved east for less than a mile, before curving directly north on Mohave County Route 10 (also known as Oatman Highway), past present-day Golden Shores through Bureau of Land Management-managed federal lands.
Approximately north of Golden Shores, US 66 arrived at the foothills of the Black Mountains, following the base of the those mountains for before entering them. Shortly afterward, the old highway arrived in the town of Oatman, passing through the center of the old mining town. North of Oatman, US 66 turned in a generally eastward direction winding its way up and through the Black Mountains over treacherous curves. US 66 passed through the small mining community of Goldroad and the adjacent mine, before continuing on its winding path up the mountainsides.