Historic Route 66 - GPS

Garmin Mapsource v.8: Route U.S. 66

Entire westbound route including alternate alignments and spurs.
by James McCool

Description:

This is westbound Route 66, from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. The route has been created as eight seperate files, one for each state Route 66 passes through. These files were created using Garmin Mapsource City Navigator NT v.8. They can be used with any Garmin GPS unit that can receive custom routes via the Mapsource software. This route was mapped using both the turn-by-turn directions available on this website, and the book "EZ66 Guide For Travelers" by Jerry McClanahan as references, in addition to the personal contributions of the author of these files. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact the author at jamesmmccool/AT/yahoo.com

How to use these files:

After downloading the files, save them to your Garmin Mapsource custom route folder. You can then transfer them to your GPS unit via the USB interface once you open the Mapsource program. Depending on the capacity of your particular GPS unit, you may or may not be able to load all eight files at once.

Each state file is broken down into several parts. These parts consist of different, optional alignments of Route 66. They are listed numerically first, 1-9, then after the number 9 I had to label routes alphabetically A-Z because the software would not acknowledge the numbers 10 and up as being after the number 9 (e.g. it would put 10 before 2). Don't worry, it really is not confusing.

The first route (#1) for each state is always the primary driveable route of that state, start to finish. The numbered and lettered routes after that are optional alignments along the way. These alignments are always listed with their corrosponding town or city first, so you will know when to select them from your saved routes. Many alternate alignments are labeled with the years they were used as part of Route 66 in their titles.

Below is an example of how the routes will appear on your GPS menu:

This is the Illinois file menu:

1: Illinois Route 66- westbound main route 298 mi 8:39:47 213° true 286
2: Chicago area late 1930s alignment through Plainfield to Gardner 42.2 mi 0:48:47 201° true 14
3: Dwight old alignment 3.7 mi 0:08:13 224° true 8
4: Odell old alignment 1.9 mi 0:04:27 215° true 6
5: Pontiac old alignment 2.4 mi 0:05:18 211° true 7
6: Lexington bypass 66 continuation 0.4 mi 0:00:43 202° true 2
7: Towanda old two-lane spur 0.4 mi 0:00:51 246° true 3
8: Towanda Dead Man's Curve spur 0.6 mi 0:01:44 208° true 4
9: Bloomington old Miller Park alignment 1.7 mi 0:04:08 209° true 6
A: Funks Grove remnant of old alignment 0.4 mi 0:00:26 240° true 2
B: Atlanta 66 bypass 1.7 mi 0:04:03 224° true 3
C: Springfield Dirksen Parkway 66 bypass 9.4 mi 0:15:24 193° true 7
D: Springfield to Hamel 1926-1930 alignment 76.2 mi 1:55:58 190° true 35
E: Auburn area brick road segment 1.4 mi 0:01:25 213° true 3
F: Auburn old Lincoln St. segment 0.3 mi 0:00:57 227° true 3
G: Girard-Nilwood 1920s alignment 5.0 mi 0:09:28 207° true 6
H: Nilwood to Anderson, Donaldson Rd.-Harvest Rd. alignment 6.8 mi 0:14:51 199° true 6
I: Carlinville to Henderson, Deerfield Drive alignment 1.5 mi 0:03:33 180° true 5
J: Mitchell I-270 bypass to St. Louis 3.3 mi 0:03:34 274° true 3
K: Mitchell-Granite City- McKinley Bridge alignment 8.9 mi 0:14:11 216° true 10
L: Collinsville to East St. Louis (1950s-1960s Collinsville Rd. alignment) 16.1 mi 0:24:46 259° true 18
M: Granite City to Collinsville (1929 Edwardsville Rd. alignment) 6.4 mi 0:10:12 183° true 5

Keep in mind that some of the alternate alignments included in the routing, especially those in the southwestern states, can consist of very rough terrain and should only be traveled by skilled drivers using a 4-wheel drive vehicle with high clearance. If you find yourself on terrain that you don't feel entirely comfortable driving on, then definitely turn around and go back to the more easily-traversed alignment. Keep safety in mind first, always. Also, when driving in the desert, BE SURE to carry extra water in your car at all times. It's also advisable to carry a small fire extinguisher in your trunk as well. Make sure you fill up on gas before heading out in the desert, too. Gas stations are few and far between in some areas.

Enjoy the ride!

Jim McCool

Using this file and software might not work in all cases, I've never tried it myself. Do let me know how it worked for you.