Route 66 is listed as endangered historic site by architectural preservation group

Internationally famous Route 66, which runs across eight states, has been listed as one of the most endangered historic sites by a preservation organization.

Route 66, along with 10 other historic sites, was categorized as endangered places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an organization working to protect valuable architecture.

Almost 300 places have been put on the endangered list over its 31 years of work, and less than 5 percent of listed sites have been lost over the time period, NTHP said.

“While Congress has taken important steps to designate Route 66 a permanent National Historic Trail, which would bring national recognition and economic development to the route's historic sites, legislation must be passed by the U.S. Senate and signed by the president before the end of 2018,” NTHP said in a statement on June 26.

NTHP warned that important steps need to be taken immediately: “Otherwise, a vital preservation opportunity may be lost.”

Calling Route 66 "America’s 'Mother Road," NTHP said the highway is an "internationally significant symbol of our nation’s romance with the open road."

Joining Route 66 on the endangered list are Annapolis’s City Dock Area, Maryland; Ashley River Historic District, South Carolina; Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital, Nebraska; Hurricane-Damaged Historic Resources, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; Isaiah T. Montgomery House, Mound Bayou, Mississippi; Larimer Square, Denver, Colorado; Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses, Bridgeport, Connecticut; Mount Vernon and Piscataway National Park, Mount Vernon, Virginia and Accokeek, Maryland; Ship on the Desert, Salt Flat, Texas; Walkout Schools of Los Angeles, California; and Four Towns of Vermont's Upper Valley: Royalton, Sharon, Strafford, and Tunbridge, Vermont.