San Bernardino highlight
Historic Route 66 landmarks
Route 66, the iconic federal highway established in the 1920s and fully paved by 1938, runs through San Bernardino as part of its 2,400-mile span from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Route 66 earned its place in American culture as the nation's first major east-west highway, fully funded and paved by 1938. In San Bernardino, the route follows Fifth Street through the city, part of a larger network that the San Bernardino County Department of Public Works maintains across more than 250 miles of Route 66 in the county. Historic timber bridges from the 1930s era still carry traffic; Bridge 77, a wooden trestle structure over the Sombra Ditch, underwent major rehabilitation in 2024 to preserve this era of construction.
The road itself is what visitors come to experience: the physical link to American travel history, the generation that left home with no certainty of return. Route 66 connected small towns and brought commerce to desert communities; it was the pathway out for some and the route home for others. Today it is a National Trails Highway, and San Bernardino preserves it as both infrastructure and heritage.
A family that lives along or near a historic route shares the same planning question as any other: if the income driving a household suddenly ended, would the mortgage and living expenses be covered? Route 66 reminds us that journeys need planning—both the long road trips and the long years of financial security a family depends on.