Last month, Oklahoma County erected signs that marked a semi-obscure section of historic Route 66 roadbed near Arcadia, Oklahoma, and commemorated its designation to the National Register of Historic Places.
Shellee Graham, who lives on the road with her husband, Route 66 researcher Jim Ross, posted a series of photos of the sign being installed:
The roadbed originally was designated to the National Register in 1999.
Ross wrote about it in his book, “Oklahoma Route 66” (Amazon link):
Its uniqueness is found not in its age or condition (which is remarkably good), but in its characteristics relating to the road surface itself, which involves two completely different designs that adjoin not far from its midpoint.
The first portion, completed in 1928, was built purely of Portland Concrete as part of Federal Aid Project 137-G. The second portion, which begins at the top of the hill and was part of Federal Aid Project 137-F, was completed in 1929 and was built of a two-inch asphalt driving surface over a five-inch concrete base with nine-inch concrete edges. While both types were common during the early years of paving US highways, the Portland Concrete design soon out-paced both the asphalt and the concrete-asphalt combination road surfaces to become the material of choice and ultimately accounted for the majority of first-generation paving statewide.
This short loop of Mother Road, bypassed in favor of an improved grade in 1952, is rare for a number of reasons, but most notably because it contains the only unaltered, surviving specimen of combination asphalt/concrete road surface in Oklahoma built to standards and still in use. It is also the only remaining stretch of first-generation paving that including the adjoining of two different surface types. Today, it stands as an important example of the road building technology of the era.
Here’s a Google Map that shows the loop that’s parallel to newer Oklahoma 66. It’s less than a mile east of Arcadia.
This is the same roadbed in 2008 when Paul McCartney (yes, THAT Paul McCarney) and his future wife Nancy Shevell stopped to talk to a local resident and asked him whether it was old Route 66 during a cross-country journey on the Mother Road. That moment was commemorated last year by a sign, as well.
Oklahoma long has been an embarrassment of riches of old Route 66 segments and landmarks, including the Tank Farm Loop near Bristow, the Ozark Trail obelisk near Stroud, the Ozark Trail alignment near Sapulpa and the Sidewalk Highway near Miami, to name a few.
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