1926 to 2026
Route 66 centennial
Highway leading to the Mojave Desert, California. Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress · Public domain
One hundred years after the numbered highways. On the Mojave stretch, one driveway met that road.
HistoryCentennialNovember 11, 2026
The American Association of State Highway Officials approved the United States numbered highway system on November 11, 1926. That plan included U.S. 66, the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway. A 1926 Bureau of Public Roads map is titled for the system “adopted for uniform marking” on that date. A House report on the centennial commission says Route 66 was designated that year, with the other original U.S. highways, by the Association and the Bureau of Public Roads, and that it first spanned 2,448 miles.
The National Park Service, telling the longer social history, rounds the road to about 2,400 miles from Lake Michigan to the Pacific, through the Mojave Desert. One hundred years after the 1926 designation, November 11, 2026, is the centennial. Congress, in the Route 66 Centennial Commission Act, found that 2026 would be that anniversary.
The commission
Public Law 116-256, the Route 66 Centennial Commission Act, was approved on December 23, 2020. It established the Route 66 Centennial Commission to study how the federal government might honor the road, and to recommend those activities to Congress. The law sets the commission to end on December 31, 2026. The states named for membership are Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
The commission’s site is route66centennial.org.
The Mojave, and Newberry Springs
In the desert, Route 66 followed the older National Old Trails Road. A Newberry Springs history compiled for the town’s own site says the 1926 highway used that alignment from about Las Vegas, New Mexico, to Los Angeles, including the road through what was then called Newberry. The Park Service lists Interstate 40 among the interstates that replaced U.S. 66.
Newberry Springs is an unincorporated community in the western Mojave Desert, in San Bernardino County, about 20 miles east of Barstow. Historic Route 66 and Interstate 40 both run through the area. The 2000 census counted 2,895 people. The post office name became Newberry Springs in 1967.
Interstate 40 and the BNSF main line at Newberry Springs. Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0
A driveway on that road
Margaret Alberta “Bonnie” McMains Orcutt kept a home on 100 acres east of Newberry, on a dirt driveway that met old Route 66. When survey markers for Interstate 40 crossed that track, she reached for her typewriter.
Did anyone answer? Read the book.
Route 66 history · Newberry Springs · The driveway story
Sources
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Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway
EnglishFrançaisEspañolMore from C. V. Wooster → cvwooster.com
More desert history from C. V. Wooster: The King of Quacks (Zzyzx) · When the Birds Go Silent (the Mojave War)
Substack
The parchment, postmarks, stamps, gilt corners, and desert sketches come from C. V. Wooster's presentation for the book. Photographs are credited where they appear. The award seals and the signed manual page are from the author's materials.
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The road
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What the statute assigns
Public Law 116-256 began as Senate bill S. 1014. The law's own legislative history says the Senate passed it on August 10, 2020, the House passed it on December 8, 2020, and the President approved it on December 23, 2020. The Senate report listed there is No. 116-62. The short title is the Route 66 Centennial Commission Act. In paraphrase, Congress found that Route 66 was the first all-weather highway tying the Midwest to California, that the road had become a symbol of travel and of looking for a better life, and that 2026 would be the hundredth year, so a commission should study a fitting observance and recommend it to Congress.
Fifteen unpaid members
The commission has 15 members, and the President appoints all of them. Three are recommended by the Secretary of Transportation. One each is recommended by the governors of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The other four are recommended by the Speaker of the House, the House minority leader, the Senate majority leader, and the Senate minority leader. A member is supposed to be someone with a demonstrated dedication to teaching history and a substantial knowledge of Route 66. The act told the appointing officials to make the first appointments within 120 days of enactment. Members serve for the life of the commission, without pay, though travel can be reimbursed. Seven members are a quorum. The members choose their own chair and vice chair, and the chair calls the meetings.
A study, not a construction budget
The duties are a study and a set of recommendations. They are not a program to rebuild the road. The commission looks at whether federal activities would be fitting honors, including commemorative coins and medals, certificates of recognition, postage stamps, ceremonies, and educational books, pamphlets, films, and electronic publications. It then recommends which of those to pursue and which federal entity should carry them out. It may hold hearings, accept gifts, and appoint a director and staff. Compensation for that staff has to come from donated funds. The act authorizes no new appropriation. All commission spending is from donations. A final report is due within two years after every member has been appointed, and the commission ends on December 31, 2026.
The desert mile is a different subject
None of that paperwork moves a survey stake east of Barstow. The numbered highway was marked in 1926 on an older desert road, and Interstate 40 later took the through cars. Mrs. Orcutt's Driveway is about one household on that older road while the freeway was being laid out. A coin, a stamp, or a ceremony would celebrate the highway as a national symbol. The book is about the person whose driveway met it. Readers who want the longer national timeline can use the Route 66 history page on this site. The commission publishes its own material at route66centennial.org.
Sources for this section
- Public Law 116-256, Route 66 Centennial Commission Act (membership, duties, donated funds, and the December 31, 2026 end date)
- Congress.gov, S. 1014, 116th Congress (the bill that became the act)
- Route 66 Centennial Commission