Route 66: How a Growth Driver Became a Growth Constraint.
Updated: Oct 12
I have driven Route 66 (Interstate 44) countless times. This year, that renowned 2,400-mile highway from Los Angeles to Chicago turned 100 years old.
Having grown up in St. Louis, it's a route I've traveled literally my entire life. There are still places where you can see sections of the original road just off the interstate.
Every time I do, I'm struck by how primitive that original roadway seems compared to today's interstate.
When Route 66 was completed in 1926, it was a marvel.
It connected small towns, fueled tourism, expanded commerce, and helped build industries such as fast food and lodging. Brands like McDonald's, Howard Johnson's, and Stuckey's benefited from the traffic it generated.
For decades, Route 66 was one of America's great growth engines.
Until America outgrew it.
Traffic increased. Commerce accelerated. Expectations changed. The very road that had fueled growth eventually became a constraint on it.
Route 66 didn't fail.
It simply wasn't built for what came next.
Stoplights slowed traffic. Intersections created delays. Expansion became difficult. What once accelerated movement eventually started restricting it.
In 1956, the federal government launched the Interstate Highway System. Over time, new highways bypassed many of the towns and routes that had once depended on Route 66.
The lesson isn't that Route 66 was flawed. The lesson is that success and scalability are not the same thing.
Businesses face this exact challenge.
The founder-driven decision-making process that worked with 15 employees often becomes unrealistic with 75. The relationships, habits, and workarounds that help create growth in the early years can eventually become the very things that limit it.
When leaders miss those warning signs, growth often becomes harder, more expensive, and less predictable.
The presence of growth does not mean a business is built to grow.
Those are two very different things.
Some companies grow because the market is expanding around them.
Others grow because exceptional people carry more weight than they should. Still others grow because demand temporarily masks structural weaknesses.
Companies have to recognize when the very factors driving growth today may be incapable of supporting growth tomorrow.
That's what the Breakout Score measures: Is a company truly built for long-term growth?
Route 66 was successful. But success alone wasn't enough to carry America's transportation needs for the next 50 years.
Growth eventually demanded a different kind of infrastructure.
Route 66 was no longer the answer.
But it paved the way to a new solution.
What's driving growth today that could limit growth tomorrow?
QUICK FACTS RELATED TO ROUTE 66:
PHILLIPS 66: The "Phillips 66" brand has some relation to U.S. Route 66. It was introduced in 1927 during testing of a new gasoline blend on U.S. Route 66. According to company history, during the test, one of the engineers reportedly remarked, "We are going like 60." The driver replied, "Sixty nothing, we are doing 66." So the Route 66 location and the 66 MPH speed helped inspire the Phillips 66 name, though other lore also suggests the gas gravity was also at or near 66. In 1930, Phillips added its now-famous shield logo, a design intended to resemble the U.S. highway route markers familiar to American motorists.
2,448 Miles: In 1938, Route 66 became the first paved road in the U.S. All 2,448 miles, across eight states. New Mexico had the most at 487 and Kansas the least with 13.
In 1995, Route 66 was officially decommissioned as a federal highway, though about 85% of the original road remains drivable today under state, local, and scenic byway names.
