Much more of Route 66 still exists than the author suggests. Sure, it's not the glory days any more, but those "associations and societies" have accomplished a great deal over the past twenty years, and the states along the route are touting their connection with a legendary road.

I drove the length of the road, from the shores of Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, in 1992, and have since traveled various segments of the road, and it's in as good shape -- or better -- now as it was then.