Giving up one Mother Road to emphasize another

I sure would have hated to have been the reporter who had to construct this story in The Herald-News in Joliet, Ill.:

The city council last week voted to de-designate Route 59 as it runs through Joliet as part of the Route 66 National Scenic Byway. Instead, the city resolution approved by the council emphasizes Route 53 as it runs through downtown Joliet as the preferred Route 66 National Byway.

Huh?

Actually, both were part of the historic Route 66 at one point in history. City officials said they always had designated Route 53 for Scenic Byway status because it runs through downtown and right past the Joliet Area Historical Museum, which contains Route 66 displays.

But Route 59 was designated along the way by Will County.

That never was a problem until the city went to the Illinois Department of Transportation to finalize permits for an electronic sign that would be put up on city-owned property at Route 59 and Caton Farm Road.

“There was some issue as to whether a digital sign would be allowed at that site because of the scenic byway designation,” City Manager Thomas Thanas said. “We just wanted to clarify the situation.”

The Route 66 Atlas provides a good visual overview of the two alignments in Joliet. The Illinois Route 53 stretch goes right through downtown Joliet, while Illinois Route 59 (aka the Plainfield alignment) runs through the city’s western edge.

Local Route 66 expert John Weiss chimed in on the story, saying the de-designation of Illinois Route 53 in Joliet as a National Scenic Byway won’t change the history of that stretch of road, as it permanently remains on the National Register of Historic Places.

Weiss said Route 66 was re-routed to Illinois Route 59 around World War II, mostly due to traffic considerations. Even so, Illinois Route 53 continued to be marked as an alternate path of Route 66.

A city official said Joliet had accepted the byways designation for Illinois Route 59 because it would make the town eligible for grants. However, Joliet never applied for — nor received  — grant money there.

The de-designation has to be accepted at the federal level before it’s official.

Ordinarily, I’d chide Joliet for de-designating a section of Route 66 as a scenic byway. At first blush, it may seem a short-sighted decision over one electronic sign.

But the Illinois 53 alignment remains by far the most popular way to travel the Mother Road just outside of Chicago. The effect on Route 66 travelers will be negligible. And, as Weiss pointed out, the proposed change doesn’t change the actual history.