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Cyrus Avery: “The most direct road to the Pacific coast”
Cyrus Avery, a businessman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is credited with creating the identity of Route 66.
Avery saw the need for better roads through his state, and as chairman of the state highway commission,
he helped plan the national system of numbered highways. His proposal for a highway from Chicagoto Los
Angeles along a southwestern route was approved and designated U.S. 66 in 1926.
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Avery founded the U.S. 66 Highway Association and coined the route’s nickname, “Main Street of
America.”
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"With the introduction of the automobile, new businesses sprang up to provide services for the
burgeoning tourist industry. The American Dream was about to undergo a profound change, a change we still
experience today.
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Travel by automobile was hard in the early days though. The roads weren't designed for the
horseless carriage. Dirt roads were little better than local trails designed for travel by horseback. "Roads
would have to improve before the automobile could open up the vast corners of our country. By 1917 only 2
percent of the nationís roads were paved. Most roads were unimproved earth, although some were graded,
graveled, or both." --Road Wanderer
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The US government was not stupid. Knowing that something had to be done to improve the
incredibly poor road system in the country, the Federal government would eventually step in to try to bring a
variety of road associations together with automobile makers.
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BOTTOM LINE: Route 66 was the result of America's new found love affair with rapid transit and
technological change. Historian Richard Davies wrote, “the automobile constituted a personalized urban mass
transit system, allowing the owner to travel whenever or wherever he desired."
HOWEVER, WHEN THE INTERSTATE HIWAY SYSTEM WAS BUILT IT DIVERTED MUCH OF THE
TRAFFIC AWAY FROM MANY OF THE SMALL TOWNS ALONG RT. 66. THIS HAD A DEVASTATING
EFFECT ON THEM AS MANY LOST THE BUSINESS OF MANY TRAVELERS AND TOURISTS AND THEY
DIED OUT. THINK CARS….