A section of original Route 66 in Marshfield, Missouri, will be converted into a roadside park after the state abandons it as a part of State Highway CC.
The Marshfield Board of Alderman recently voted to hire the Crawford, Murphy and Tilly Inc. engineering firm draw up plans for the park, reported the Marshfield Mail newspaper.
City administrator John Benson explained that there are 400-500 feet of pavement on Highway CC that are part of the original Route 66, and this section is scheduled to be vacated by the city when that road is altered to accommodate the new I-44 interchange.
Federal legislation exists designating Route 66 a national trail, and the city has been in dialogue with the State Historic Preservation Office about what to do about that soon-to-be-vacated section. […]
CMT Engineering will draft plans to preserve the section of pavement as a roadside attraction, and Benson looks at this as an opportunity.
“It’s a cool thing because it builds on the historic aspect of Route 66 in Marshfield,” he said. It also ties into work that is being done by the Route 66 Committee in Marshfield and Webster County as that group tries to build on untapped tourism opportunities afforded by Route 66.
The section of original Route 66 is east of Rifle Range Road and extends to where Highway CC curves toward Niangua, Missouri.
According to the online Route 66 Atlas, that section from Marshfield to Niangua also was part of the Ozark Trail, a road that predates Route 66.
(Image of a Missouri Route 66 Historic Byway sign by Kari Nousiainen via Flickr)
I’ll be through there later this a.m. I’ll check it out. …..down town Chicago was not bad Labor Day morning. thanks for the site