Route 66 collects more bad advice than almost any road in America. Here is what the historical record and the people who preserve it actually say, sorted myth by myth.
Road notes
- The federal government retired the US 66 designation in 1985, yet the road’s alignments across eight states remain open and drivable today.
- Route 66 runs roughly 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, so a two or three day schedule is not realistic.
- There is no single official road to follow; the highway had multiple alignments over its life, and marking varies along the corridor.
- Over 250 Route 66 buildings, bridges and other locations appear on the National Register of Historic Places, and many towns along the road still thrive.
- A Park Service travel itinerary maps over 100 of those historic locations, which gives planners a ready-made starting point.
Few American roads attract as much folklore as Route 66. Some of the legend is earned, but a lot of what first-timers hear on forums and from well-meaning relatives is out of date or simply wrong. Before you plan a trip, it helps to sort the mythology from what the historical record and the agencies that preserve the road actually document.
Myth: Route 66 Is Gone and Can’t Be Driven Anymore
Fact: this one confuses an administrative change with a physical one. The government struck US Highway 66 from the federal highway system in 1985, so the number disappeared from the official map. The pavement did not go anywhere with it. Surviving stretches of the road still exist across the country, and the Park Service presents the route today as a working piece of American history that travelers can go out and experience for themselves.
Congress has backed that up with money and structure. In 1999 it passed an act creating the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, which the National Park Service runs, to protect the highway’s significant places and stories from its period of significance, which ran from 1926 to 1985. Since 2001, cost-share grants have supported more than 170 projects along the corridor. The road you want to drive still exists. What you have to accept is that it survives in segments, not as one unbroken route number.
Myth: It’s One Continuous, Clearly Marked Highway
Fact: Route 66 got its number in 1926, when the Bureau of Public Roads put together the country’s first federal highway network. Like other early US routes, it was stitched together from local, state and national roads that already existed, and it was realigned repeatedly over the decades. There was never just one version of the road. Different alignments tie the route’s east and west together, but they also tie its earlier and later eras together.
What that means for a modern driver is that following Route 66 is a series of decisions, not a matter of staying on one shield. Marking along the corridor is not uniform, and in some places you will be choosing between a 1920s alignment and a later one. State and local Route 66 organizations publish turn-by-turn guidance, and rules and road conditions change, so confirm the current routing with each state’s transportation department before you go.
Road-tested tip
The Park Service maintains a travel itinerary that features over 100 sites, drawn from the more than 250 Route 66 buildings, bridges and roadbeds that carry National Register of Historic Places status. Treat it as a ready-made planning spine.
Myth: You Can Do It Right in Two or Three Days
Fact: the math does not cooperate. The route covers roughly 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, spanning two-thirds of the continent. An interstate crossing of that distance is already a multi-day drive. Old alignments move slower, running through town after town at surface-street speeds, and stopping is the reason you chose this road in the first place.
Squeezing the route into a long weekend means driving distances that fatigue research says are risky, and it turns a road trip into a forced march. Read our guide to how far is too far in a day before you sketch a schedule. The budget follows the calendar too. More days mean more nights, more meals and more fuel, and two-lane miles burn fuel differently than interstate cruising, so work out the numbers for your specific route rather than guessing.
Myth: Every Town Along the Way Is Abandoned
Fact: some motels, cafes and gas stations along the route are gone, and preservation groups note that pieces of the road disappear every year. But the picture is not a ghost town. The Park Service characterizes the route today as very much alive, and the Department of the Interior has noted that the road draws thousands of visitors annually, a large share of them from outside the country. Those visitors matter to the economies of the rural communities the road passes through.
There is active investment behind that traffic. The National Trust for Historic Preservation keeps a database of legacy businesses along Route 66 and runs grant funds that have supported restaurants and other businesses along the road, including stabilization work on a historic filling station in Peach Springs, Arizona. Expect a mix in a single afternoon: restored neon on one block and a quiet stretch on the next.
Myth: You Need a Classic Car to Fit In
Fact: there is no vehicle requirement, formal or social, for driving this road. People experience the route in daily drivers and rentals as well as restored classics, and what actually determines whether your trip works is mechanical readiness, not chrome. A long stretch of two-lane road is a worse place to have a breakdown than an interstate, so start with our pre-road-trip car checkup.
If you are renting, match the car to the plan before you sign, since mileage limits and fees vary. EV drivers should map charging against the old alignments themselves rather than assuming interstate-style coverage, and build in fallbacks for stations that are down or already occupied.
Myth: The Original Road Looks the Same in Every State
Fact: the route connects eight states, from Illinois through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to California, and crosses the lands of more than 25 Tribal Nations. The terrain alone guarantees variety: the road starts on the Lake Michigan shoreline, runs across Illinois farmland, climbs through the Missouri Ozarks and the old mining districts of Kansas, crosses Oklahoma and the wide ranching country of Texas, then heads through the high plateau country of New Mexico and Arizona and the Mojave Desert before it finishes in Los Angeles.
The history varies too. Portions of the route follow corridors far older than the highway itself, including wagon roads charted in the 1850s, and each state preserved different pieces of the road and its businesses. Driving Route 66 is really eight state experiences stitched together, not one uniform nostalgia trip.
How to Follow the Old Alignments Today
Start with the National Park Service. Its travel itinerary maps the highlighted historic sites, its Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program acts as a central source of preservation know-how and hands-on help, and the Route 66 Archives and Research Collaboration, founded at a 2007 meeting in Albuquerque, connects researchers with collections at institutions in Missouri and Oklahoma.
Then confirm the driving details locally. Because Route 66 is no longer a numbered federal highway, its segments are owned and maintained by states, counties and towns, and conditions, closures and marking vary. Check each state Department of Transportation’s road condition maps in the week before you leave and again the morning of each driving day.
One more thing to watch: the route’s official status could still change. A Park Service feasibility study, authorized by legislation from 1990, concluded that Route 66 qualified for National Historic Trail status, but Congress never established the trail. Bills to create one, covering every alignment the highway used during its 1926 to 1985 life, have been introduced since, so the designation question is worth checking before your trip.
If the idea of a two-lane journey with the road itself as the destination appeals to you, Route 66 is the classic example, but it is not the only one. Our guide to choosing a cross-country route compares corridors by season and schedule, and our piece on planning a scenic byway trip shows how to build a slower, prettier drive anywhere in the country.
Questions from the road
Q: Can you still drive Route 66 today?
A: Yes. The federal government dropped the US 66 designation in 1985, but the surviving alignments across Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California remain open to drivers. You follow segments marked as historic rather than one numbered highway.
Q: How many days do you need to drive Route 66?
A: The route is about 2,400 miles long, and old alignments run through towns at low speeds with stops along the way. Plan on substantially more days than an interstate crossing of the same distance would take, and build in slack for weather and closures.
Q: Do I need a classic car to drive Route 66?
A: No. Thousands of people drive the route every year, many of them from other countries, in everyday vehicles and rentals. What matters is that your car is road-ready before a long trip on two-lane roads.
Q: Is Route 66 a National Historic Trail?
A: Not currently. A Park Service feasibility study concluded that Route 66 qualified for National Historic Trail status, but Congress never established it. Newer bills have been proposed, so check the current status before you travel.
Road rules, fees, closures and border requirements change. Check with the state transportation department, park, rental company or border agency before you travel. This guide is general information.
