Illinois
Continued From Page 33
route would not back down in their
insistence that this important corridor
be represented by a single number.
After rejecting a compromise that
would have changed the Illinois portion
to 60N, for 60 North, they went back
and noticed that the number 66 had
not yet been assigned. They agreed
to let the Kentucky Governor have
his Route 60, and they preserved the
connection between Chicago and Los
Angeles with Route 66.
If not for the high regard of the original
map makers for the importance of “a
single numbered highway connecting
Chicago with Los Angeles through
St. Louis,” there would have been no
reason to fight for Route 66. We can
truly say there would be no Route 66 if
not for Chicago. Therefore, you cannot
get ALL your kicks on Route 66 without
coming to Chicago—the place where
the road begins!
-Story by Dave Clark
Downtown Chicago-Photo by Dave Clark
CHICAGO METRO AREA
the Atlantic at Newport News, Virginia.
U.S. 50 passed north of Kentucky,
and U.S. 70 passed to the south. To
Governor Fields, Chicago politics had
stolen away his primary highway! He
pointed to the fact that three of the five
committee members that had drawn
the map were interested parties in the
Chicago-to-L.A. highway—they were
the heads of the highway departments
in Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma. He
threatened to remove Kentucky from
the U.S. highway system unless U.S.
60 was re-routed through his state.
The backers of the Chicago-to-L.A.
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