To celebrate the centennial of Route 66 in 2026, the very first episode of the year features the life of the Father of Route 66- Cyrus Stevens Avery.

Join Route 66 Podcast host Anthony Arno as he talks with Susan Croce Kelly, author of Father of Route 66: Cy Avery. More than establishing Route 66, Avery was a proponent of the Good Roads Movement and advocated for paved roads at the introduction of the automobile in America.

Highlights from the show include:

Teaming up with Quinta Scott in 1990 to write Route 66: The Highway and Its People
Searching for Route 66
Avery's childhood
Avery travels west in a covered wagon at age 13
Awareness of road conditions as a young pioneer
Populariity of bicycles in establishing paved roads

Avery pulls America out of the mud
What did Avery get right?
Replacing named roads with numbered roads
Road construction and technology
Need for proper signage with road travel
Rapid growth of automobiles with Model T introduction
Railroad perspective regarding paved roads
Avery reluctantly accepts the number "66" for his road
Secretary of Agriculture in charge of road construction
What did Route 66 get right that the other highways of the day missed out on?
US Highway 66 Association established to promote the road
Proposing a 3400 mile coast to coast footrace along Route 66
The Bunion Derby puts Route 66 on the world map
The Great Depression years
Running for governor of Oklahoma
Providing clean drinking water to Tulsa
Avery's biggest achievement (not Route 66)
Modernizing the Tulsa airport
Reflection
- Importance of trip west for Avery in a covered wagon
- Replacing Route 66 with the Interstate Highway
- 1969 Highway Beautification Act removes local billboards
- Route 66 as a tourist attraction today

Centennial Plaza in Tulsa honors Avery
Newspaper Women of the Ozarks book

65. Cyrus Stevens Avery: Father of Route 66