Congress To Decide On Making Route 66 A National Historic Trail

Above, the Rio Puerco Bridge in Albuquerque. The bridge was the crossing of the Rio
Puerco River for Route 66 before the road was re-aligned. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Historic Route 66 is "on the road" to becoming the 20th National Historic Trail.

The Daily Courier reported:

The road now called “Historic Route 66” is closer to Historic Trail designation following unanimous passage of a bill by the House of Representatives in June. 

The bill is in the hands of the U.S. Senate for consideration. 

Reps. Darin LaHood, R-Illinois, and Grace Napolitano, D-California, introduced the bill to make Route 66 the nation’s 20th historic trail. 

It designates the highway, including “all the alignments of U.S. Highway 66 in existence between 1926 and 1985,” about 2,400 miles, from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California, as the Route 66 National Historic Trail. Route 66 runs through northern Arizona, including Seligman and Williams. 

The Route 66 National Historic Trail would be administered by the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the National Park Service. The bill calls for the administration to conduct the trail “in a manner that respects and maintains the idiosyncratic nature of Route 66.” 

LaHood said the bill, introduced Feb. 9, 2017, would provide a permanent program to preserve, promote, and economically develop the highway.

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