Route 66 versus Interstate 40

“Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.” Charles Kuralt.  

In the battle between Interstate 40 and Route 66 – the Interstate won.

From Oklahoma City to the Pacific, Route 66 became the major road to the west following the route of the Beale’s Wagon Road built in the 1850s (using camels as pack animals but that’s another story).

Before heading west everything converged on Oklahoma. The Ozark Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, even the Trail of Tears – they all funneled in from the south and the mid-west. After WWII, traffic grew exponentially and created hundreds of small local businesses along the road catering to the increasingly affluent travelers. Snazzy diners and motels at every point of interest. Cheap food and clean sheets. Individual businesses before the corporate giants took over.

Many of these places are still giving the whole route a 50s vibe. But the road is also littered with the skeletons of most of these businesses as Interstate 40 just obliterated them. Whenever I-40 exits were placed close to an existing town, then maybe the businesses survived. But even in towns like Tucumcari which has become the hip-retro motel town with the Blue Swallow and it’s original “refrigerated air” sign, there are new Holiday Inns and MacDonalds dropped in between the hulks of failed hotels and truck stops. The old truck stop went bankrupt, Shell or Mobil or Chevron pulled off their logos, and left the building to rot and left the toxic tanks in the ground. It is amazing to still see places that were clearly abandoned thirty or forty years ago.

(By the way, every one of these companies has a Corporate Responsibility statement on their web sites but I suppose that doesn’t include cleaning up after themselves in small town America “the communities where we operate”. Hey, we bus our own tables, why can’t Mobil or Texaco clean up ?)

You can see this all along Route 66 and some towns resemble Chernobyl – like everyone just left the radioactive mess behind. This is most pronounced on the section from Seligman to Kingman, Arizona where I-40 took an entirely different southerly route and Route 66 became a distant backwater. The only Route 66 business here is the Hackberry Store which just became a gift shop caricature of itself and an Instagram magnet. 

Overall the ride has a truly unique feel because of these relics whether they are hanging on or not. 

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Chevron’s Corporate Responsibility Statement:- Affordable energy is a catalyst for economic growth and prosperity. Our company’s values drive us to provide that energy responsibly while protecting the environment and working with our partners to strengthen communities because our success is tied to the success of the communities where we operate.