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Route 66 is one of the most famous, one of the most popular and just a historical highways in the world. It also known as U.S. Route 66, The Main Street of America, The Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway. Over the years, U.S. Route 66 received many nicknames. Right after Route 66 was commissioned, it was known as The Great Diagonal Way because a large section of the highway (Chicago to Oklahoma City) ran diagonally, unlike the other highways. Later, Route 66 was advertised as The Main Street of America by the US Highway 66 Association to promote the highway. The title had also been claimed by supporters of U.S. Route 40, but the Route 66 group was more successful. In the John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath, the highway is called The Mother Road. The title continues to be applied to the highway. Lastly, Route 66 was unofficially named The Will Rogers Highway by the U.S. Highway 66 Association in 1952. A plaque dedicating the highway to the humorist is still located in Santa Monica, California. There were more plaques like this; one can be found in Galena, Kansas. It was originally located on the Kansas-Missouri state line, but moved to the Howard Litch Memorial Park in 2001.

The history goes back in 1926 and it originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles for a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km). The building finished in 1938 and after that there were only improvments.

Traffic grew on the highway because of the geography through which it passed. Much of the highway was essentially flat and this made the highway a popular truck route. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s saw many farming families (mainly from Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas) heading west for agricultural jobs in California. Route 66 became the main road of travel for these people, often derogatorily called "Okies". And during the Depression, it gave some relief to communities located on the highway. The route passed through numerous small towns, and with the growing traffic on the highway, helped create the rise of mom-and-pop businesses (mainly as service stations, restaurants, and motor courts) up and down the highway.

Today, Route 66 is a very popular brand. TV-shows, songs, Kmarts line of jeans also bear the name of the highway. The Disney/Pixar movie Cars is set mainly in the fictional town of Radiator Springs, located on Route 66 and bypassed by I-40. An NBA Development League basketball team, the Tulsa 66ers, was named after the route. The road also lent its name to a minor league baseball team, the Inland Empire 66ers!

The history of this highway in enormous. And it's certain, that this piece of road will certainly be a part of the US history in the future.