Route 66

Relationship to Route 66

Before the advent of Route 66, the Pontiac Trail, SBI 4, was a paved road linking Chicago and St. Louis. With the designation of numbered Federal highways in 1926, Route 4 was simply assigned as part of the great diagonal road called Route 66. Many tangible and intangible resources of Chicago Route 66 exist virtually unchanged from 80 years ago. Most important, it is the physical and sentimental beginning of the road. Route 66 begins in Chicago and ends in Los Angeles.