Map of Route 66

In the early 1920s, the U.S. had an estimated three million miles of Highways. And yet even by that early 20^th century time-period, only an approximate 36,000 miles of those highways were built to endure the rigors of all types of weather as well as motor vehicles. There were a number of factors that combined to make the continuation of that situation untenable. For one thing, the number of automobiles in use in the U.S. was growing rapidly. In 1920, there were six to seven million motor vehicles in the country. But by 1930 that number had grown explosively up to fifty million. And the drivers of those cars needed a better system of roads. Also, the country’s experience in WW1 had demonstrated the need for better transportation systems as various vehicles such as ambulances and trucks had spread out across the country as part of the war effort. On one expedition led by Captain (and later President) Dwight D. Eisenhower, a convoy of vehicles attempting to cross the country sometimes encountered conditions adverse enough to slow them down to no more than five miles of progress per day. Ultimately, the U.S. Congress passed the Federal Aid Highway Act in 1921. The aim of the new law was to facilitate the creation of a unified system of good quality roads stretching from coast to coast. A plan was developed, and signed in 1926, which included the blueprint for what was to become Highway 66: a road linking Chicago with Los Angeles and passing through Oklahoma. At that time, of the more than two thousand miles of roads that would ultimately constitute Highway 66, there were only up to eight hundred that were even paved. The rest still needed to be built or they consisted of nothing more than gravel or clay. The majority of the highway was not well suited for automobiles until the late 1930s. And it wasn’t a fully hard surface road until long after that. Hence, the fictional Joads in the mid to late 1930s would have encountered a highway that was likely good enough in most places to allow passage for their vehicle under a lot, if not all, weather conditions. Nevertheless, it still wasn’t as comfortable as the modern driver would expect.