A section of old Route 66 between Barstow, California, and Amboy, California, that was closed for several years due to bridge washouts is open again.
The Facebook accounts of the California Historic Route 66 Association and Roy’s Motel & Cafe this week both reported the road being reopened by San Bernardino County, which holds jurisdiction.
National Trails Highway, aka Route 66, remains closed between Amboy and Essex because of bridge washouts starting in 2014.
Word on the street is the county hopes to repair those bridges between 2025 and 2027. The former would be in time for Route 66’s 100th anniversary in 2026.
To bypass the closed Essex-to-Amboy section, travelers will need to access Interstate 40 and Kelbaker Road.
As this page states, the county is responsible for more than 120 timber bridges in the Mojave Desert that were built 80 years ago or longer.
More information on road closures can be found here.
The reopening of that stretch allows travelers to drive on the distinctive, historic road unimpeded from Ludlow to Amboy. That stretch veers away from Interstate 40.
Flash flooding in September 2014 initially washed out dozens of those old Route 66 bridges. (We coincidentally were traveling Route 66 in the area at the time, probably just hours before the bridges failed.) Several dozen other Route 66 bridges in the region have failed since.
(Image of Route 66 and the closed Ludlow Cafe in Ludlow, California, by Bradley Fulton via Flickr)