U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway and colloquially known as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road) was a highway within the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926 – with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in America, originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). It was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song and the Route 66 television show in the 1960s.
Note: The photo in Figure 1. (shown above) has absolutely nothing to do with Route 66.