The Joplin (Mo.) Globe reports that the first of 10 public meetings about designating Oklahoma’s Route 66 as a national scenic byway was held Monday at the Civic Center in Miami, Okla.
Those meetings will help develop a corridor management plan to help market the road.
Pam Lewis, with the Oklahoma Byways Program at the University of Oklahoma, said a national designation would provide federal grant funds for communities to upgrade infrastructure along the route, put up signs, and develop brochures to market the section of the route that passes through the communities.
If the plan is approved, communities could submit joint grant applications for a regional approach to encouraging public awareness of the historic route. […]
“By summer, we should know something,” Lewis said. “We’re hopeful and optimistic.”
The eventual goal is to make all of Route 66 a contiguous national scenic byway. The states of Arizona, Missouri, Illinois and New Mexico are part of it. Oklahoma is working on it. All that’s left is to get Texas, Kansas and California aboard the program. The Lone Star State will be the toughest nut to crack, but people are working on it.
I’ll post more about the Oklahoma meeting times when I get them.
UPDATE: Just got the meetings schedule.
Tulsa
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Central Park facility, 1028 E. Sixth St.
Sapulpa
Tues., Sept. 25, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
1st United Bank, 2nd Floor,
Dewey Ave and Route 66
Stroud
Wed., Sept. 26, 7-8:15 p.m.
City Hall, 220 W. Second St.
Edmond
Wednesday, Sept. 26, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Holiday Inn Express, East Second Street
Weatherford
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2-3 p.m.
City Hall, Blair Hall, 522 W. Rainey
Clinton
Thursday, Sept. 27, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Frisco Center, 101 S. Fourth St.
El Reno
Thursday, Sept. 27, 10-11 a.m.
County Commissioners Chamber,
201 N. Choctaw
Elk City
Friday, Sept. 28, 3-4 p.m.
Elk City Chamber of Commerce
Erick
Friday, Sept. 28, 6-7 p.m.
Roger Miller Museum
Ron,
Just for my education, why will Texas be the “toughest nut to crack”? Just curious….
Because Texas has shown absolutely no interest in putting a scenic byway of any kind in the state. There seems to be opposition from agricultural interests, among other things.
Crocodile Lile at the Old Texas Route 66 Association has been trying to get the state to do something, but it’s been an uphill battle with no apparent progress.