A story in The Conversation website, titled “Could New Legislation Lead to a Route 66 Economic Revival?” by Arizona State University historian and grad student Daniel Milowksi has attracted a lot of attention, especially since it was picked up by the Associated Press.
In it, Milowski examines the history of Route 66 and how a bill working its way through Congress could boost the highway.
Milowski lays out the possible benefits of having Route 66 being federally designated as a National Historic Trail:
By permanently designating Route 66 a historic trail, local communities and regional and national organizations can now draw from federal coffers to fund historic preservation, development and promotion.
An immediate benefit will be prominent uniform trail signage along the length of Route 66 alerting tourists to the trail’s presence and providing highway directional signage on how to get to it. The trail would also be listed on the National Park Service website and other Park Service promotional materials.
Finally, it would provide a stable source of funding for preservation and promotion efforts along the trail.
Through this federal legislation, local communities along Route 66 – once negatively affected by earlier federal interstate legislation – will have an opportunity to rebuild, rebrand and reclaim their heritage along this historic road.
His conclusion about the bill’s effects is as concise of a summation as I’ve read. You can read my arguments for a Route 66 National Historic Trail here.
However, I think Milowski runs a bit awry by comparing the Arizona towns of Peach Springs and Seligman during the Route 66 decertification era. Both towns suffered terribly after Interstate 40 bypassed them, but Seligman rose from the ashes because it rebranded itself as a Route 66 town.
He wrote:
… Other towns, either due to fewer resources or the lack of an organized local business effort, continued to struggle. Peach Springs falls into this camp.
Thirty-two active businesses operated in Peach Springs before the bypass in 1978. Only two businesses are present in the town today. Although you can still take Route 66 through Peach Springs, travelers and residents have to buy gas in Seligman. The only remaining businesses are a grocery store and a motel.
I do not deny Seligman’s efforts to remake itself into a Route 66 stop was crucial to its eventual rise. But Peach Springs also suffered from two disadvantages that were difficult to overcome.
— Peach Springs is too far from I-40. Seligman boasts not one, but two exits on I-40 less than a mile from the town’s center. Peach Springs sits more than 30 miles from the nearest I-40 off-ramp, with no other highways nearby. Seligman likes to advertise itself as a throwback to the two-lane days, but its proximity to the interstate cannot be overestimated in tourism value.
— Peach Springs doesn’t have an Angel. Seligman should thank its lucky stars it produced a person as charismatic and energetic in Angel Delgadillo. Several people became instrumental in forming the Historic Route Association of Arizona and lobbying the state to declare its part of Route 66 a historic highway. But that former barber turned out to be a rare specimen — a person who became a Route 66 tourism attraction by himself. Even at more than 90 years old, Delgadillo enthusiastically greets thousands of tourists each year.
Because of their proximity and size, it probably was tempting to directly compare Seligman and Peach Springs. But because of all the variables — topography, development, city leadership, infrastructure, to name a few — it’s probably not a good idea to go there.
That’s my take. I could be wrong.
(Image of Seligman, Arizona, by Victor Solanoy; image of Peach Springs, Arizona, by Kim Davies)
I agree completely with your thoughts on the invalid comparison between Seligman and Peach Springs. Perhaps a better comparison would have been between Seligman and Ash Fork. Both are close to Interstate 40, but Ash Fork seems to be bypassed by most Route 66 travelers.
Mr. Milowski seems to be unaware that Route 66 already has a significant presence on the National Park Service website. https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/route66/maps66.html
Any such legislation needs to ensure that funding goes to small businesses and NOT industrial tourism firms like Xanterra. Route 66 is about dreamers and hopeful small entrepreneurs, and it doesn’t need to be Xanterrified.
Ron, Yes, I agree with you. Peach Springs is isolated for several reasons. It is on the Hualapai Reservation and there are tribal concerns and resistance, that inhibit the community. I have history there. My father had a Mobiloil gas station which I would like to honor with at least a plaque, but I can’t get the powers that be to even respond to me (and I went to school with many of them!). Someday, the good folks in Peach Springs will get hip to the magic trip, just not today.
I find all the furor this story is causing more than a bit distressing. I believe that your comparison, Ron, is right on the money but the writer did not do enough research and go far enough with his story. The Road Ahead Initiative/now Partnership along with the 8 state Route 66 Associations, has been working over 5 years, trying to wake people up and get them to realize the Corridor Preservation Program which has guided the Route for the past 20 years, is sunsetting/going away in 2019 – and if we can’t get the road declared a National Historic Trail by then, a lot of the progress that the Corridor Preservation Program has brought about thru their grant program is going to be lost. Likewise, once again, you have someone writing an article who is not thoroughly knowledgeable in Route 66 or, I suspect, has not traveled the entire Route, nor knows how many people do travel it every year and what has been done even in the recent past to get us to where we are today with the Route. He, like most people, also does not understand that you cannot do much with anything on Indian Reservations without tribal consent which creates issues most have no idea of unless, like Mr. Bell, they have tried to do something on tribal land and been shut down at every turn.
And the real issue is much more – we have to get the National Historic Trail designation or what he is trying to say is a mute point! Without something to replace the Corridor Preservation Program, the Route will go back to having to survive totally on it’s own with little to help the people and places still trying to make a living here. Please go to the National Historic Preservation Trust website and sign the petition there for the National Historic Trail designation. Yes, bill has passed the House but still needs to get thru the Senate and on to Trump to sign. Then write your local Senators and ask them to please support this bill. Your support is badly needed, now more than ever! Thank you!