A long-awaited renovation of a 9-foot-wide, century-old section of Route 66 — better known as the Sidewalk Highway — in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, is slated to begin sometime in 2023.
According to KSNF-TV, the project is in the planning stage:
“What we got is a 1920 Federal Highway which is now a national trail, and we are going to bring that back to its original condition,” says Russell Earls, Ottawa County Commissioner.
Now in the engineering phase, the 5-year, $4,000,000 project will include milling out the 9-foot wide strip of asphalt and relaying it with Topeka asphalt.
And to help give it its original look, a full-depth pavement will be constructed along with a chip seal and brown pea gravel.
Here’s the video from the station:
The 7-mile Sidewalk Highway was built in 1922, shortly before U.S. 66 was certified. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The Sidewalk Highway also was part of an original Ozark Trail that predates Route 66.
That section of road doesn’t see a lot of use except by residents, tourists and farming equipment.
Much of the Sidewalk Highway remains covered with gravel to fill potholes and washboarded sections. The gravel also keeps the original road surface underneath from deteriorating faster, but it’s not particularly attractive.
(Image of the Sidewalk Highway near Miami, Oklahoma, by gsamx via Flickr)