Route 66 Just Turned 100. Here's What's Actually Still Out There
One hundred years ago today, the road that became an American legend got its number. On November 11, 1926, the new cross country highway running from Chicago to the Pacific coast was officially designated U.S. Highway 66. (The broader U.S. highway numbering system itself had been approved that April 30, but 66's specific designation was finalized on November 11, which is why that date, not the April one, is celebrated as Route 66's birthday.) One hundred years later, roughly 85% of that original road is still out there and still drivable.
π£οΈ What's actually still there
The original route ran 2,448 miles from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California through eight states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. It was fully paved by 1938 and stayed a federal highway until it was formally decertified on June 27, 1985, replaced piece by piece by five interstates. What a lot of people assume: that decertification meant the road vanished. It didn't. About 85% of the original alignment survives today as state highways and local roads carrying Historic Route 66 signage, you just won't find it on a federal map anymore.
The surviving road isn't evenly spread. New Mexico has the longest intact stretch at 487 miles, Kansas the shortest at just 13 miles, the smallest Route 66 footprint of any of the eight states. A few short sections never made it: the Jericho Gap in Texas and the Glenrio to Bard stretch in New Mexico are known gaps where the original road is gone or impassable, and a short segment near Lincoln, Illinois, south of Salt Creek, is permanently closed.
π How America is actually celebrating today
This isn't a quiet anniversary. In Springfield, Illinois, the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway is running its Centennial Celebration at Motorheads tonight, headlined by Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, alongside a statewide conference earlier in the day and a raffle for a custom built $6,000 neon sign, the winner drawn tonight at the event.
Down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, today's Route 66 Birthday Bash has been folded into the city's Veterans Day Parade, with live music and performances through downtown culminating in a concert at Cain's Ballroom. That overlap isn't a coincidence USRoadbooks is forcing, November 11 has been Veterans Day in the U.S. since 1954, and this year it happens to also be Route 66's 100th birthday, so Tulsa is marking both at once.
π° What a full run actually costs right now
If you drove the entire original 2,448 miles today, at a realistic 25 miles per gallon and today's AAA national average of $4.17 a gallon (as of November 1, 2026), you would spend roughly $410 in gas alone, one way, before a single hotel or meal. That's the kind of real number worth knowing before you romanticize the drive, and exactly the kind of number USRoadbooks itineraries are built around.
πΊοΈ A road this historic deserves more than a rough idea of "drive west from Chicago", especially with 15% of the original route gone and a handful of real detours to plan around.
That's exactly what the Route 66 RoadBook is built for.
It's the complete 19 day, Chicago to Santa Monica itinerary built around the road that's actually still there in 2026, not the one on a 1950s map.
What's inside:
β A complete 19 day day-by-day Route 66 itinerary from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California
β Every iconic stop mapped and explained, from the Gateway Arch and Cadillac Ranch to the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona
β Hotel recommendations for every budget at every stop.
β Google Maps links for every single leg of the route, including the detours around the Jericho Gap and other broken sections
β The best diners, roadside attractions and hidden gems the entire 2,448 original miles
β Practical tips on which stretches still need a planned detour and how to structure each day across eight states
β Instant digital download, on your phone before you book a single night