Editing U.S. Route 66 (section)

===Revival===
[[File:SoulsbyServiceStation MtOliveIL.jpg|thumb|[[Soulsby Service Station|Restored service station]] in [[Mount Olive, Illinois|Mt Olive, Illinois]]]]

The first [[Route&nbsp;66 association]]s were founded in Arizona in 1987 and, in 1989, Missouri (incorporated in 1990)<ref name="bosglobe">{{Cite news |last=Cobb |first=Nathan |date=May 3, 1992 |title=Searching for Route 66 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/61756809.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130131194616/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/61756809.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current |archive-date=January 31, 2013 |work=Boston Globe |page=18|id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here --> }}}}</ref><ref name="mo66a">{{Cite web |date=April 14, 2012 |title=Historic Route 66 Association of Missouri website |url=http://www.missouri66.org |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200816231636/https://missouri66.org/ |archive-date=August 16, 2020 |access-date=May 5, 2012 |publisher=Missouri66.org}}</ref> and Illinois.<ref name="il66a">{{Cite web |date=June 23, 2017 |title=Route 66 Association of Illinois history website |url=https://www.il66assoc.org/association-history/ |access-date=January 8, 2024 |publisher=il66assoc.org}}</ref> Other groups in the other US&nbsp;66 states soon followed. In 1990, the state of Missouri declared US&nbsp;66 in that state a "State Historic Route". The first "Historic Route&nbsp;66" marker in Missouri was erected on Kearney Street at Glenstone Avenue in Springfield, Missouri (now replaced—the original sign has been placed at [[Route&nbsp;66 State Park]] near [[Eureka, Missouri|Eureka]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sonderman |first=Joe |title=A Bit of Missouri 66 History |url=http://www.66postcards.com/hist.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105154916/http://www.66postcards.com/hist.html |archive-date=November 5, 2014 |access-date=November 18, 2014 |website=66Postcards.com}}</ref> Other historic markers now line—at times sporadically—the entire {{convert|2400|mi|km|adj=on}} length of road.<ref name="route66world">{{Cite web |title=Route 66 History |url=http://www.route66world.com/66_history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200823215839/http://www.route66world.com/66_history/ |archive-date=August 23, 2020 |access-date=November 18, 2014 |publisher=Route 66 World}}</ref> In many communities, local groups have painted or stenciled the "66" and [[U.S. Route shield]] or outline [[Route shield pavement marking|directly onto the road surface]], along with the state's name.<ref name="route66world" /> This is common in areas where conventional signage for "Historic Route&nbsp;66" is a target of repeated [[Street sign theft|theft]] by [[souvenir]] hunters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Finding Your Way on Route 66 |url=http://www.route-66.tv/finding-your-way-route66.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230172153/http://www.route-66.tv/finding-your-way-route66.html |archive-date=December 30, 2014 |access-date=November 18, 2014 |website=Route-66.tv}}</ref>

[[File:Snow cap seligman.jpg|thumb|left|[[Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In]] in [[Seligman, Arizona]]. The eatery is still a popular tourist stop.]]
Various sections of the road itself have been placed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The Arroyo Seco Parkway in the Los Angeles Area and US&nbsp;66 in New Mexico have been made into National Scenic Byways. [[Williams Historic Business District]] and [[Urban Route 66, Williams]] were added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1984 and 1989, respectively. In 2005, the State of Missouri made the road a state scenic byway from Illinois to Kansas. In the cities of [[Rancho Cucamonga, California|Rancho Cucamonga]], [[Rialto, California|Rialto]], and [[San Bernardino, California|San Bernardino]] in California, there are US&nbsp;66 signs erected along [[Foothill Boulevard (Los Angeles)|Foothill Boulevard]], and also on Huntington Drive in the city of [[Arcadia, California|Arcadia]]. "Historic Route&nbsp;66" signs may be found along the old route on [[Colorado Boulevard]] in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], and along [[Foothill Boulevard (Los Angeles)|Foothill Boulevard]] in [[San Dimas, California|San Dimas]], [[La Verne, California|La Verne]], and [[Claremont, California|Claremont]], California. The city of [[Glendora, California]], renamed Alosta Avenue, its section of US&nbsp;66, by calling it "Route&nbsp;66". [[Flagstaff, Arizona]], renamed all but a few blocks of Santa Fe Avenue as "Route&nbsp;66". Until 2017, when it was moved to the nearby [[Millennium Park]], the annual June [[Chicago Blues Festival]] was held each year in [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park]] and included a "Route&nbsp;66 Roadhouse" stage on Columbus Avenue, a few yards north of old US&nbsp;66/Jackson Boulevard (both closed to traffic for the festival), and a block west of the route's former eastern terminus at [[U.S. Route 41 in Illinois|US&nbsp;41]] [[Lake Shore Drive]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Matthews |first=David |date=March 28, 2017 |title=Chicago Blues Festival 2017 Lineup, New Location Revealed |url=https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170328/downtown/chicago-blues-festival-2017-lineup-new-location-revealed |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170611145415/https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170328/downtown/chicago-blues-festival-2017-lineup-new-location-revealed |archive-date=June 11, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2017 |website=[[DNAinfo]] |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Whiteis |first1=David |last2=Dahl |first2=Bill |date=May 29, 2003 |title=20th Annual Chicago Blues Festival: The Reader's Guide |url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/20th-annual-chicago-blues-festival/Content?oid=912189 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171125150537/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/20th-annual-chicago-blues-festival/Content?oid=912189 |archive-date=November 25, 2017 |access-date=June 18, 2017 |website=[[Chicago Reader]]}}</ref> Since 2001, [[Springfield, Illinois]] has annually held its "International Route&nbsp;66 Mother Road Festival" in its downtown district surrounding the [[Old State Capitol State Historic Site (Illinois)|Old State Capitol]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=13th Annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival & Car Show |url=http://www.route66fest.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129105832/http://www.route66fest.com/ |archive-date=November 29, 2014 |access-date=November 22, 2014 |website=Route66fest.com |publisher=The Promotion Company}}</ref>

Many preservation groups have tried to save and even landmark the old [[motel]]s and [[neon lighting|neon signs]] along the road in some states.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Juozapavicius |first=Justin |date=May 20, 2007 |title=Route&nbsp;66 Motels an Endangered Species |url=https://oklahoman.com/article/3056671/route-66-motels-an-endangered-species |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818030244/https://oklahoman.com/article/3056671/route-66-motels-an-endangered-species |archive-date=August 18, 2019 |access-date=August 17, 2019 |work=[[The Oklahoman]] |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

In 1999, President [[Bill Clinton]] signed a ''National Route&nbsp;66 Preservation Bill'' that provided for $10 million in matching fund grants for preserving and restoring the historic features along the route.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welch |first=Kevin |date=July 1, 1999 |title=House OKs Route&nbsp;66 Bill |url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/070199/new_route.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325041510/http://amarillo.com/stories/070199/new_route.shtml |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |access-date=April 15, 2012 |work=[[Amarillo Globe-News]] |df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In 2008, the [[World Monuments Fund]] added US&nbsp;66 to the [[2008 World Monuments Watch|World Monuments Watch]] as sites along the route such as gas stations, motels, cafés, trading posts and drive-in movie theaters are threatened by development in urban areas and by abandonment and decay in rural areas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Historic Route&nbsp;66 |url=http://www.wmf.org/project/historic-route-66 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416201825/http://www.wmf.org/project/historic-route-66 |archive-date=April 16, 2012 |access-date=April 15, 2012 |publisher=World Monuments Fund}}</ref> The National Park Service developed a Route 66 ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary describing over one hundred individual historic sites.<ref>{{Cite web |last=National Park Service |date=n.d. |title=List of Sites |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/listofsites66.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170706142429/https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/listofsites66.html |archive-date=July 6, 2017 |access-date=June 11, 2017 |website=Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary: Route 66 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> As the popularity and mythical stature of US&nbsp;66 has continued to grow, demands have begun to mount to improve signage, return US&nbsp;66 to road atlases and revive its status as a continuous routing.

The U.S. Route&nbsp;66 Recommissioning Initiative is a group that seeks to recertify US&nbsp;66 as a [[US Highway]] along a combination of historic and modern alignments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cain |first=Fred M. |title=The Plan |url=http://www.bringbackroute66.com/theplan.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406080210/http://www.bringbackroute66.com/theplan.html |archive-date=April 6, 2012 |access-date=June 4, 2012 |publisher=Route&nbsp;66 Recommissioning Initiative}}</ref> The group's redesignation proposal does not enjoy universal support, as requirements that the route meet modern US Highway system specifications could force upgrades that compromise its historic integrity or require US&nbsp;66 signage be moved to [[Interstate highway]]s for some portions of the route.

In 2018, the [[American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials|AASHTO]] designated the first sections of [[U.S. Bicycle Route 66]], part of the [[United States Bicycle Route System]], in Kansas and Missouri.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Charboneau |first=Michael |date=July 16, 2018 |title=Get Your Kicks Biking Route 66 |url=https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/07/get-your-kicks-biking-route-66/565175/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825184124/https://www.citylab.com/life/2018/07/get-your-kicks-biking-route-66/565175/ |archive-date=August 25, 2018 |access-date=September 7, 2018 |work=[[CityLab (website)|CityLab]]}}</ref>