America’s most famous road turns 100 and all eight states are throwing a party

A century since the Mother Road was born

The most famous highway in America is about to hit triple digits. Route 66 turns 100 in 2026, the same year the country marks 250 years of independence.

All eight states the road runs through are throwing parties, parades, and concerts. Congress is even pushing to give the old highway a brand-new title.

Most of the action kicks off in a Missouri city you might not expect, and the reason why goes back to a single telegram.

Two big birthdays land in the same year

You get two milestones for the price of one road trip in 2026.

Route 66 was officially established on November 11, 1926, when the Secretary of Agriculture signed off on the highway. The road ran about 2,400 miles from Chicago to Santa Monica, crossing eight states along the way.

The two anniversaries stay separate, but the U.S. Department of Transportation made Route 66 a centerpiece of its 250-destination Great American Road Trip list. A traveling pop-up exhibit also nods to both.

A telegram from a Springfield hotel started it all

The road got its name on April 30, 1926, inside a place called the Colonial Hotel in Springfield, Missouri. From there, a telegram went out to federal highway officials proposing the name “Route 66.”

Oklahoma businessman Cyrus Avery and highway engineer John Page picked the number after Kentucky claimed their first choice, 60.

The Secretary of Agriculture signed the official approval on November 11, which also happens to be Veterans Day. By 1927, the U.S. Highway 66 Association had set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to push for full paving.

The Depression paved the final stretches

The road carried the country through some of its hardest years before it was even fully paved. Crews didn’t finish paving every mile until 1938, more than a decade after the highway opened.

From 1933 to 1938, thousands of unemployed young men joined road gangs to lay the last stretches during the Great Depression. About 210,000 people fled the Dust Bowl along Route 66 in search of a new life in California.

John Steinbeck called it “the Mother Road” in his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, and the name stuck.

Wartime and the rise of roadside America

World War II turned the highway into a military lifeline.

The government moved troops and supplies to bases out West along Route 66, and the road carried much of the workforce behind roughly 70 billion dollars in capital projects in California.

After the war, thousands of veterans who trained in the Southwest packed up and moved there permanently, and many of them drove Route 66 to do it.

The postwar tourism boom filled the shoulders of the road with motels, diners, and drive-ins, building an entire roadside economy from scratch.

How the interstates killed the highway

The Mother Road’s slow death started with a stroke of a pen.

President Eisenhower signed the Interstate Highway Act in 1956, and over the next three decades, five new interstates chewed up the old route piece by piece.

Interstate 40 finished off the last section in 1984, and the federal government officially decommissioned Route 66 in 1985. Then came the comeback.

Congress created the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program in 1999 to fund the rescue. Today, more than 250 sites and structures along the road sit on the National Register of Historic Places.

Congress wants to make it a National Historic Trail

A pair of bills could give Route 66 the federal protection many fans say it deserves.

In September 2025, Congress introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 5470 and S. 2887, to designate the road as a National Historic Trail.

Representative Darin LaHood led the House version, and senators Ted Cruz, Mark Kelly, and Tammy Duckworth signed on across party lines.

If it passes, Route 66 would join the Santa Fe and Lewis and Clark Trails in the National Trails System. The legislation is still pending in the 119th Congress.

The national kickoff hits Springfield, Missouri

The official birthday party starts where the road got its name.

Springfield, Missouri, is hosting the National Route 66 Centennial Kickoff Celebration from April 30 to May 3, 2026, since the city carries the title of Birthplace of Route 66.

Actor John Goodman is hosting a concert at Great Southern Bank Arena featuring the country group Little Big Town. More than 100 classic and vintage cars will roll down the original Route 66 alignment through downtown.

At 4 p.m. on April 30, the city will dedicate Birthplace Plaza on the site of the old Colonial Hotel.

Oklahoma claims the most miles of asphalt

If you want the longest stretch of original road, point the car toward Oklahoma. The state has more than 400 driveable miles of Route 66, more than any other.

Tulsa is hosting a Route 66 Capital Cruise on May 30, 2026, billed as the largest classic car parade the Mother Road has ever seen.

A statewide mural festival on July 18 will unveil new murals in towns up and down the route.

The exact 100th birthday on November 11 brings a combined birthday bash and Veterans Day parade in Tulsa, capped by a concert at Cain’s Ballroom.

Every state on the route is throwing a party

The other six states aren’t sitting this one out. Illinois, where the road starts, picked up National Scenic Byway recognition for its stretch in 2005 and was the first state to fully pave its portion.

Arizona has events all year, including the Route 66 Fun Run from Seligman to Topock from May 1 through 3, the oldest Route 66 celebration in the country.

In Kingman, Arizona, crews will relight the historic Hotel Beale neon sign for the first time in more than 40 years. New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, and California are all planning their own events.

The federal road trip program ties it all together

There’s a federal layer to all this too. The U.S. Department of Transportation launched the Great American Road Trip in May 2025, in partnership with Brand USA, as part of the America 250 programming.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy unveiled a website with 250 suggested stops across the country for the nation’s 250th birthday.

Route 66 sits front and center on the site, making it the strongest formal link between the two celebrations.

Brand USA reports that road trips rank among the top three most in-demand travel experiences for international visitors.

Small towns are getting a serious cash injection

The centennial is pumping real money into towns that needed it.

The Missouri Route 66 Centennial Commission has put more than 2.5 million dollars into events and infrastructure.

Missouri alone has funded 12 interactive Route 66 signs in eight counties and 160,000 dollars in wayfinding signs.

Arizona is handing out grants for beautification and revitalization of Route 66 businesses and communities.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has partnered with Google Arts and Culture and more than 20 other organizations to build a virtual Route 66 experience for people who can’t make the drive.

Why this birthday hits different

Route 66 connected small main streets to a national highway system back when most rural towns had no access to a major road.

It carried Americans through the Depression, through wartime, and into the postwar era of mobility and freedom. The centennial isn’t a single event.

It’s a yearlong run of celebrations in towns from Chicago to Santa Monica.

With America’s 250th birthday landing in the same year, you can hit both celebrations on the same trip, even though each one runs independently of the other.

Visiting the Birthplace of Route 66 in Springfield, Missouri

You can stand on the exact spot where the highway got its name.

Springfield is the official Birthplace of Route 66, and the new Birthplace Plaza at Jefferson Avenue and St. Louis Street has a commemorative sculpture on land donated by Missouri State University.

Stop by the History Museum on the Square at 154 Park Central Square for hands-on Route 66 exhibits.

Hours run Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., with adult admission around 12 dollars.

Follow the original route through town along Kearney Street, Glenstone Avenue, St. Louis Street, and College Street.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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