A massive freight warehouse project threatens our national treasures including the Mother Road, Historic U.S. Route 66.
Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926, and it ran from Chicago to Los Angeles covering 2,448 miles. The original alignment of Route 66 ran through Joliet until 1940 on what is now designated as U.S. Route 53. Subsequently in 2006, this segment of Route 66 between Joliet and Wilmington was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The national treasures on this stretch of Historic Route 66 near Elwood include Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery and Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.
Additionally, Historic Route 66 in the Joliet area is a critical part of our tourism economy.
- Joliet Slammers baseball
- The Blues Brothers filming locations including the historic Joliet prisons
- The Rialto Square Theater
- Chicagoland Speedway and the Dirt Oval 66 raceways
- The Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad drive-in
- Biking and hiking on the Wauponsee Trail and Midewin
The NorthPoint warehouse proposal sprawls across more than 9 square miles just to the east of Historic Route 66 in Elwood. Consequently, this massive 3,000-acre complex would dump 4 million trucks per year onto the Mother Road. In addition to the smog and noise, there would be more crashes and fatalities.
