Route 66: the "Mother Road"

In the USA, the car is a part of daily life. To go anywhere, even to the shops, most Americans need a car. However, cars need roads, and some roads are more interesting than others. There are lots of famous roads in the USA, but one road is special: Route 66. Although it is no longer part of the network today, it has a place in the history and the culture of the United States

A New Road

The story began in 1926. A businessman called Cyrus Avery wanted to build a long highway connecting the middle of the country to the West Coast. People liked his plan, and soon a new road was built from Chicago, Illinois, as far as Los Angeles, California. The road was more than 2,000 miles long. It was a giant project that helped unite the country.

Life on the Mother Road
The author John Steinbeck, who knew Route 66, called it the "Mother Road." For many thousands of families, this road was a path to a better life. During the 1930s, many people wanted to escape from the "Dust Bowl" –  a part of the middle of America that was very dry and dusty. They wanted a better life in California, where the sun was warm and the land was good.

The journey was never easy. In the early days, most of the road was just dirt or gravel. Cars often broke down, and there was no air conditioning to help when the desert sun became hot. Because the trip was so hard, many small service stations, friendly diners, and cozy motels appeared along the route. People needed to stop for food, sleep, and car repairs.

Music and Memory

The road even became a star in music. There is a very famous song simply called "Route 66." Many great artists, like Nat King Cole and the Rolling Stones, have recorded  this song, that tells the story of the long drive from "Chicago to L.A.".

The End of the Road

In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government built new, faster highways called "interstates." These were much straighter, wider, and faster than the old Route 66. Because of this, people stopped using the old road, and in 1977, Route 66 officially closed. When the road closed, business in many small towns along the route collapsed. Some small towns disappeared completely. Today, you can sometimes see old, empty buildings – the ghosts of hotels and gas stations – standing alone in the middle of nowhere.

A Modern Adventure
Today, a few  tourists still drive on the parts of the old road that remain. They want to see the history and feel the spirit of the past. It is not an easy trip, but for those who drive it, Route 66 is still a powerful symbol of the American spirit and the history of the open road.

  Not many tourists travel the whole road, or what is left of it. Even in an air-conditioned Cadillac, Route 66 remains – in the words of  Woody Guthrie – "a mighty hard road."


Difficult words:
no longer : not any more - single: just one - giant: very big - unite: join (as in United States)  - dusty: covered in dust, a find powder in the air -  led: went - fertile: where plants grow easily - repair: to mend - diner: a restaurant -  to wind (pronounced like "wined"): to twist and turn - federal; national - collapsed: disappeared

Audio: note the pronunciation of the word "route": in American English there are two pronunciations, [raut] (rhyming with out)  or [rut] rhyming with boot. In British English, the word is always pronounced  [rut], like root.

Discover  a longer C1 level version of this text: Highway 66 revisited


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This resource is © copyright Linguapress -   Simplified from an article originally published in Spectrum magazine.
This text may not be reproduced on other websites nor in printed form without written permission from the publishers. Reproduction is authorised exclusively for personal use by students, or for use by teachers with their classes.

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Student worksheet

Exercises:
Exercise 1: Identifying Information (True / False)

Read the statements below and write TRUE if the statement agrees with the text, or FALSE if the statement contradicts the text or is not given) .

    1. Cyrus Avery was the only person who worked on the road.

    2. Route 66 was more than 2,000 miles long.

   3.  In the 1930s, many families moved to California because the climate was better.

    4. The first roads were made of smooth concrete.

    5. There are more diners on Route 66 today than in the past.

Exercise 2: Sentence Completion

Complete the sentences below. Choose between one and three words from the text for each answer.

    1. In 1926, Cyrus Avery wanted to build a highway to connect the middle of the USA to the 

    2. John Steinbeck gave Route 66 the famous nickname 

    3. Because the journey was difficult, many small  and motels opened along the road.

   4.  In the 1950s and 1960s, the government built  that were much faster than Route 66.

    5. Today, some tourists still drive on the road to see the  of the United States.

Exercise 3: Vocabulary Matching

Match the words from the text (1-5) with their correct definitions (A-E).

Word 1. Highway 2. Connect  3. Collapse 4. Remain 5. Symbol

Definition A. To break or fail suddenly (like a business). B. A very large, main road for traveling long distances. C. To join two or more things together. D. Something that represents a bigger idea or feeling. E. To stay or be left after other parts are gone.