Route to the past

Does the world's most famous road still capture the romance of the open road? We brave 1,300 miles of Route 66 to find out

- Charlie Thomas

THERE are 191 turns in eight miles,' says the woman, who smiles as she warns of the Oatman Highway just up the road. She is a clerk in Cool Springs Station, the last roadside stop before this treacherous part of Route 66 in north-west Arizona. Just stick to the speed limit and there's nothing to worry about.' She knows the face of a concerned traveller when she sees one.

I'm right to be worried. Dangerous Roads, a website dedicated to highlighting the world's most difficult routes, describes this stretch as having 'very few guardrails giving you no leeway for error'. It is, indeed, technical, with steep drops that will put the fear in your passenger if they peer out of the window. It's also high-the summit of Sitgreaves Pass topping out at 3,595ft above sea level. Those brave enough to drive it will be rewarded with a visit to the Gold Rush town of Oatman itself located after the summit. They can also brag that they've driven one of the oldest stretches of Route 66.

The Oatman Highway is very different to much of Route 66, which once followed a broadly diagonal line of tarmac from Chicago, Illinois, all the way to Los Angeles, California. The route was intended to make cross country travel easier, as well as boosting the income of the small towns it severed. The route was decommissioned nearly 40 years ago in 1985 and celebrates its centenary in 2026, so what does 'the Main Street of America' look like today?