Route 66 Trivia Questions and Answers

Tap a choice for the answer and its reason, from Chicago to Santa Monica.

Question 1 of 10

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Going west from Chicago, which state did Route 66 cross between Missouri and Oklahoma?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with any school, exam board or quiz show. Bank checked October 3, 2026.

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How it works

Four rounds on the highway that ran from Chicago to Santa Monica: the road and its number, the trails, promoters and travelers, the realignments and decline, and the road state by state.

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For the car

The road and its number and State by state, and what is left are the rounds to read aloud on the drive: the two ends, the length, the towns of Kansas and what a sidewalk highway is.

For the history table

Trails, promoters and travelers has the camels, the Olympic advertising of 1932 and the Dust Bowl. Realignments and decline follows the bypasses, from the turnpikes of Oklahoma to the last sign in Arizona.

Tips
  • Kansas held only about 13 miles of the road; ask its questions before you reach Missouri.

Questions and answers

What are some easy Route 66 trivia questions?

Route 66 was one of the original highways of which system? To which roads did it lose its traffic? Under which name are surviving stretches marked? The answers are the United States Numbered Highway System, the Interstates and Historic Route 66.

When was Route 66 established, and when did it end?

It was established on November 11, 1926, with signs put up the next year, and was officially removed from the United States Highway System in 1985.

Why is Route 66 called the Mother Road?

The name was popularized by the novelist John Steinbeck in a book of 1939 about families moving west along the highway in the Dust Bowl years.

How were the answers checked?

Each was read on October 3, 2026 in the English Wikipedia article U.S. Route 66, which every question links. The song, the television series and the businesses along the road are left out.

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All 41 questions with answers

The road and its number 10

  • About how long was Route 66? Answer: 2,448 miles. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Besides the Mother Road and the Will Rogers Highway, which nickname did Route 66 carry? Answer: The Main Street of America. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • By 1938 Route 66 had become the first U.S. highway to be what? Answer: Fully paved. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • The Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 was followed by the Federal Aid Highway Act of which year? Answer: 1921. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Going west from Chicago, which state did Route 66 cross between Missouri and Oklahoma? Answer: Kansas. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In which year did Congress authorize a national system of numbered highways? Answer: 1925. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • On which date was Route 66 established? Answer: November 11, 1926. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Route 66 was one of the original highways of which system? Answer: The United States Numbered Highway System. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • To which system of roads did Route 66 lose its traffic in the middle of the 20th century? Answer: The Interstate Highway System. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which number did the promoter Cyrus Avery first seek for the Chicago to Los Angeles route? Answer: US 60. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66

Trails, promoters and travelers 9

  • A 1932 advertising campaign urged Americans to drive US 66 to which event in Los Angeles? Answer: The 1932 Summer Olympics. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Along which parallel of latitude was Beale's Wagon Road, a forerunner of Route 66, built? Answer: The 35th parallel. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Besides the Grand Canyon, which colorful desert of the Southwest drew tourists along Route 66? Answer: The Painted Desert. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • During which disaster of the 1930s did US 66 become a major route for people moving west? Answer: The Dust Bowl. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In the 1930s many people from the southern Great Plains drove US 66 west in search of work. To which state? Answer: California. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In which month and year did the association that promoted the highway disband? Answer: November 1979. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which animals were tried as pack animals on Beale's Wagon Road, a forerunner of the route? Answer: Camels. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which businessman, with others, argued for a Chicago to Los Angeles route and called it the "shortest, best and most scenic"? Answer: Cyrus Avery. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which older auto trail, with parts of the Ozark Trails, was taken into the route of US 66? Answer: The National Old Trails Road. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66

Realignments and decline 9

  • The 1930 alignment in Illinois between Springfield and East St. Louis follows the line of which present-day Interstate? Answer: Interstate 55. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • A realignment of 1937 in New Mexico made a more direct route through which city? Answer: Albuquerque. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In 1979 the western end of Route 66 was moved east to which Arizona town? Answer: Sanders. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In Chicago the eastern end of Route 66 was extended in 1937 through which park to Lake Shore Drive? Answer: Grant Park. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Near which Arizona town was the steep, winding route through the Black Mountains bypassed in 1953? Answer: Oatman. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • What did the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 restrict along interstate highways? Answer: Roadside advertising. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which act of 1956 authorized the Interstate Highway System and began the decline of Route 66? Answer: The Federal-Aid Highway Act. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which Interstate, completed through the Bristol Mountains in the early 1970s, took Route 66 off the road from Pasadena to Needles? Answer: Interstate 40. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which toll road, opened in 1953 between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, was one of the first major bypasses? Answer: The Turner Turnpike. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66

State by state, and what is left 13

  • About how far did Route 66 run in Kansas? Answer: About 13 miles. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • How many miles of Route 66 lay in New Mexico? Answer: 380. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In 2026 the Postal Service issued Forever stamps to mark which anniversary of the route? Answer: Its centennial. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In the Texas Panhandle, Route 66 covered how many miles? Answer: 178. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • In which two states were the first sections of U.S. Bicycle Route 66 designated? Answer: Kansas and Missouri. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • On which avenue did Route 66 enter Chicago? Answer: Ogden Avenue. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Roughly how many miles of Route 66 lay in Arizona? Answer: About 401. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Under which name are surviving segments marked for tourism and preservation? Answer: Historic Route 66. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • What are the narrow early stretches called that have a single paved lane with curbs and gravel shoulders? Answer: Sidewalk highways. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which organization put Route 66 on its watch list of endangered sites in 2008? Answer: The World Monuments Fund. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which state highway now runs beside old Route 66 in central and northeastern Oklahoma? Answer: State Highway 66. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which state was the first to declare its part of the highway a state historic route, in 1990? Answer: Missouri. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
  • Which three Kansas towns did Route 66 pass through? Answer: Galena, Riverton and Baxter Springs. Source: Wikipedia: U.S. Route 66
How this list was compiled

Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Questions and wrong choices are our own. Each explanation restates, in our own sentences, a fact from the English Wikipedia article named and linked beside the question (https://en.wikipedia.org, text under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license): U.S. Route 66. The text of each article was fetched on October 2 or 3, 2026, and on October 3, 2026 the passage that states each fact was read in it before the question was kept. Left out on purpose: the song, the television series and the films that use the road's name, restaurants, motels and other businesses along it, and titles of books still in copyright. Levels are our estimate: easy is fair for any table, medium suits people who know the subject, hard will stump most tables. Each question also carries the date its article was read (checkedOn). Licence: own work