The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday night that ended the 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government.
As a result, parks, campgrounds, historic sites, and services along Route 66 that are maintained by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Forest Service reopened Thursday morning.
The Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona recently reopened for a seven-day period if the state footed the bill. But other Route 66-related sites — including the Petrified Forest National Park in eastern Arizona, Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Amboy Crater in Amboy, Calif., and Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Ill. — remained closed until Congress reached that agreement.
The shutdown also closed the NPS-run Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, which provides cost-share grants and technical assistance for owners of historic properties along the Mother Road.
The shutdown didn’t just affect National Park Service workers. It also caused a financial impact on Route 66 towns near the national parks, including Holbrook, Ariz., and Williams, Ariz. According to one report in the Williams newspaper, the shutdown was costing businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars, including the Grand Canyon Railway.
The U.S. Travel Association estimated the shutdown was costing the country $152 million a day in travel spending. The national parks being closed accounted for half of that.
Websites for all the above agencies and parks went dark. The shutdown also shuttered the National Register of Historic Places website and all activities associated with it.
Needless to say, almost everyone seems glad this foolishness in Washington is over for the time being.
(Image of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site by aaronHwarren, which was closed during the shutdown)