Route 66 is one step closer to National Historic Trail status thanks to a bill that passed the House of Representatives on June 5 by a unanimous vote, a month after it cleared the House Natural Resources subcommittee.

The potential status change carries tremendous significance for supporters, historians, cities and proprietors along the 2,400-mile roadway from Chicago to Los Angeles, dubbed the “Main Street of America.”

Gaining historic trail status would mark the first, full-length national designation of the road that passes through eight states, and could open a permanent pathway to federal dollars for preservation, promotion and rehabilitation.

Co-authored by local Rep. Grace Napolitano, a Democrat from El Monte and Rep. Darin LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, the bipartisan bill making Route 66 the nation’s 20th historical trail was introduced last year.

After advancing out of the House, the bill was referred to the U.S. Senate Transportation Committee and the subcommittee on Highways and Transit.

Without the bill, the highway would lose funding from a temporary corridors preservation program funneled through the National Park Service that ends in September 2019, said Bill Thomas, chairman of an eight-state collaborative called the Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership.

Road to fame

Route 66 was made famous in the song “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” by American songwriter Bobby Troup.

It featured in countless Hollywood movies including “The Grapes of Wrath (1940)” starring Henry Fonda as Tom Joad leading his family out of economic ruin into sunny California.

The route was commissioned in 1926 as part of the first federal highway system but was supplanted by major freeways and interstates built in the 1950s. In 1985, it was decommissioned as a federal highway.

“H.R. 801 is very important to the future of Route 66. It is what will guarantee a federal level focus on Route 66 forever,” said Thomas, whose office overlooks the town of Atlanta, Ill., population 1,649, one of many small towns connected to bigger cities by the route.

Formed in November 2013 at a Route 66 convention in Anaheim, the group is pushing trail status for its permanent revenue source, as well as a second bill co-authored by Napolitano that establishes a centennial commission. He hopes the commission would throw a huge party in celebration of the road’s 100th year anniversary in 2026.

Revitalization

The group’s goal is preservation with prosperity.

More federal dollars could revitalize route cities, including those in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties: Needles, Barstow, Amboy, Daggett, Oro Grande, Victorville, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Azusa, Glendora, Arcadia, Duarte, Pasadena, Highland Park and Los Angeles.

For example, since 2009 when his town began promotions centered on Route 66 as a tourist stopover, sales tax revenues climbed 43 percent, Thomas said.

In 2008, the sleepy town was visited by four tourist buses; last year the town had 53 bus tours stop.

“They do exactly what you want tourist to do: Buy gas, eat at cafes and shop at your stores,” Thomas said.

Tourists spend $38 million a year in communities along the route, according to a 2012 economic study from Rutgers University.

Claudia Heller, a Duarte proponent of more local Route 66 signs and co-author of “Life on Route 66: Personal Accounts Along the Mother Road to California,” had just returned from a Route 66 vacation with her husband, Alan, co-author and photographer.

They said it’s cherished by more foreigners than Americans. Along the way, they met tourists from China, Europe and South America exploring the road in California, Arizona and New Mexico.

“It is more popular than it ever was,” said Claudia. “Did you know there is an Amsterdam Route 66 organization? They come every year.”

SoCal signage

Scott Piotrowski, author of “Finding the End of the Mother Road: Route 66 in Los Angeles County,” said at the very least the bills will help erect more consistent signage, especially in L.A. County where the road zigzags from Foothill Boulevard and Huntington Drive in the east, to Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, the site of the annual Rose Parade.

In Los Angeles, the road originally ended at Broadway and 7th Street but was extended to Santa Monica in 1936 and ends at Lincoln and Olympic boulevards.

In an upcoming talk Saturday at the Cahuenga Branch Library in East Hollywood, Piotrowski will emphasize using social media and mass transit to experience Route 66.

Part of the modern day journey is spotting the “Muffler Men” statues made of discarded car parts, or chowing down at some of the best doughnut shops in Los Angeles County. The road that defined LA car culture can be a less polluting, more energy efficient experience, he said.

“I am changing that mindset (as car culture). In L.A., we have more people getting out of their cars. This is a new way to do that — to expose more people to Route 66,” he said.