Oklahoma: Birthplace of U.S. Route 66

Route 66, Amercia's most beloved highway, was born right here in Oklahoma. Cyrus Avery, a Tulsa businessman and promoter of good roads, spearheaded the national committee which created the U.S. Highway System in 1926. Avery championed a Chicago-to-Los Angeles route which would drop south through Oklahoma and then turn west traveling through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Avery also picked the now famous double sixes as the new road's official number.

After World War II, Oklahoma was the home of the National Highway 66 Association, the group responsible for the promotion of Route 66 on a nationwide basis.

Ironically, Oklahoma was the first state to deal the route its first official deathblow. In 1953, the Turner Turnpike (I-44) between Tulsa and Oklahoma City opened, bypassing 100 miles of the legendary Mother Road. Other states followed suit while the federal government's new four-lane, straight-as-an-arrow interstate system gobbled up section after section. By 1984, the last segment of Route 66 was bypassed by I-40 in Arizona. It was all over—or so many people thought . . .

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Funny thing about legends—they don't die. In fact, they grow in the telling. And although many shops and motels along the old Road did close, others hung in there and waited. To paraphrase Field of Dreams: “It's still here . . . and they will come.” And they did. First a trickle, then a steady stream which now verges on becoming a flood. Europeans and Americans alike are rediscovering the warmth, hospitality, nostalgia, and wonderful diversity that permeate the 2,400 miles of Route 66.

By 1989, the Oklahoma legislature recognized the need for an agency to handle the preservation and promotion of Oklahoma Route 66. Shortly afterwards, the Oklahoma Route 66 Association was born.

Oklahoma has more miles of original Route 66 road-bed left than any other state. We were the first state to design and install the distinctive historic markers (many states have since adopted our design), and we are home to the first state-sponsored Route 66 Museum in the nation.