At the intersection of Michigan and Adams Avenues, across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago and down the block from the Adams/Wabash CTA station, stands a small sign marking the beginning of Route 66.
From there, it will take you west, past the Willis (nee Sears) Tower, through suburban Chicago and the Illinois countryside. You’ll go through St. Louis; Joplin, Missouri; and Oklahoma City (which looks mighty pretty). You’ll see Amarillo; Gallup, New Mexico; Flagstaff, Arizona (don’t forget Winona); Kingman; Barstow; San Bernardino; and eventually the Santa Monica pier, where 2,000 miles later it ends.
And in a few weeks, Route 66 will turn 100. Officially commissioned on November 11, 1926, Route 66 has captured the public’s imagination through its kitschy roadside attractions and Googie architecture, immortalized in song and on TV.
Not that much of the Route still exists, and what does has largely been superseded by the Interstate Highway System. But the “Mother Road” remains a seminal icon in America’s story: one of the first east-west arteries linking different regions of the country that, by helping drive the ascendancy of the automobile became a symbol of American freedom (and dependence on oil).
When it was fully decommissioned in 1985, dedicated preservationists sprang to action to save it, leading to the 1999 establishment of the federal Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program. Legislation currently before the U.S. House would formally designate Route 66 as a National Historic Trail, and for other purposes, a welcome birthday present.
But that bill, like many others, will have to wait until after the election, if not longer. Despite plans to stay in Washington until the end of September, the House has left town to go home and campaign. Although Congress did pass a bill to ensure the government stays open until early December, lots of other items were left on the to-do list, including potential permitting reforms that could impact Section 106.
Congress will return to DC once the election is over to complete any additional business in a lame duck session, but what happens then will be impacted by the election results. If Democrats win a majority in one or both chambers, they will likely want to defer any action on important legislation until they formally take control in January.
Urge Your House Member to Oppose the ACHP’s Changes
House members might be getting their kicks on Route 66 at the moment (or whatever road takes them back to their districts to campaign). But that doesn’t mean CRM firms need to stop advocating that they speak up for preservation and cultural resource management.
As ACRASphere shared late last week, a bipartisan group of House members has drafted a letter to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation opposing their radical overhaul of the regulations that implement Section 106.
If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment and send a message to your House representative asking them to sign this important letter.
ACHP Delays Business Meeting Until November
The ACHP has announced that their next business meeting, initially scheduled for late September, has been pushed back to Tuesday, November 10, 2026. The meeting will be open to the public.
Although the Council has not released an agenda for the meeting, it is possible they will use the meeting to vote on any revisions to their 800 regulations rewrite. ACRA will share more information as it becomes available.
There is still time to request a meeting with the White House Office of Intergovernmental and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which is reviewing the ACHP’s proposal. ACRA met with them in August, and we strongly encourage firms to ask for a meeting. ACRA will provide tips and guidance, but your firm’s unique perspectives are indispensable in the effort to block the ACHP’s plan.
ACHP Adopts CatEx on Policies and Regulations
The ACHP announced Friday that it is adopting the Department of the Interior (DOI) categorical exclusion (CE) for policies, directives, regulations, and guidelines, under section 109 of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The adoption is effective on September 18, 2026
The Interior CE covers “[p]olicies, directives, regulations, and guidelines: that are of an administrative, financial, legal, technical, or procedural nature; or whose environmental effects are too broad, speculative, or conjectural to lend themselves to meaningful analysis and will later be subject to the NEPA process, either collectively or case-by-case.”