Missouri Route 66
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Route 66 |
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| Maintained by MoDOT | |||||||||||||
| Length: | 14 mi (23 km) | ||||||||||||
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| Formed: | 1985 | ||||||||||||
| East end: |   I-44/US 71 East of Duenweg |
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| Major junctions: |
 Route 249 East of Duquesne Business US 71 in Joplin  Bus. Loop 44/Route 43 in Joplin |
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| West end: |  K-66 at the Kansas state line |
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| Major cities: | Duenweg Duquesne Joplin |
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Route 66 is a fourteen mile long road in southwest Missouri which had previously been U.S. Route 66 for its final six years. The highway begins at Interstate 44, passes through Duenweg, Duquesne, and Joplin, then crosses into Kansas becoming K-66.
[edit] Route of the highway
Route 66 begins at a partial interchange with I-44 east of Duenweg and heads west in an almost straight line to near the state line. About half of the highway is a concurrency with Interstate 44 Business. At the west side of Duenweg, Missouri 66/Business I-44 has an interchange with Route 249 (future Interstate 49), then heads through Duquense (where it becomes a four-lane road) and on into Joplin, where it becomes Seventh Street. At Rangeline Road is an intersection with U.S. Route 71 Business, a major intersection in Joplin. At Main Street is an intersection with Route 43 and Business I-44 turns south.
West of Main Street, Route 66 is marked "Historic Route 66" (see below). Just west of the city limits of Joplin, the highway becomes a divided highway all the way to the state line. About one mile before entering Kansas, a county road, "Old Route 66", turns off and the newer highway turns southwest to the Kansas state line.
[edit] US 66 through the Joplin Area
Although all of Route 66 once served as US 66, only five of the six westernmost miles are marked as "Historic Route 66" being that the historic alignment comes in from the north (westbound) on Main Street in Joplin. The very westernmost mile of Historic Route 66 turns off Missouri 66 on a county road known as "Route 66 Boulevard" and enters Kansas at a different location than the current state highway.
