BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — More “kicks” await bikers and hikers on the Historic Route 66 Bikeway that trails the legendary “Mother Road” in McLean County.

This stems from a 2.75-mile extension slated for construction in 2014, going from the Bloomington-Normal area north to Towanda at the old alignment of Route 66. Gov. Patrick Quinn gave the extension the go-ahead in mid-February with an Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program grant award at $800,000.

The trail goes along Route 66 and connects at Shirley and Bloomington, then into the Constitution Trail through Bloomington/Normal toward Towanda.

The county bikeway was planned in the 1990s by seven local governmental agencies. The completed bikeway will add 27 miles of trail to the existing 24-mile Constitution Trail.

This trail will be a transportation and open space link between the county’s two largest forest tracts, and also provide access to high-quality prairie ecosystems, the McLean County Regional Planning Commission notes.

U.S. Route 66 is a two-lane, 2,400-mile highway through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, linking Chicago with Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

Created by Congress in 1926 and also known as the “Main Street of America” or the “Will Rogers Highway,” Route 66 is one of the most famous roads in America, lauded in story and song.

The Mother Road was in use about 50 years before the advent of interstate highways in the 1960s-1970s. Today, many sections of Route 66 are incorporated into other highways.

The multipurpose bikeway is for bicycle riders, walkers and hikers, but not ATVs. “That’s not really what it’s intended for – it’s more for your bike and foot traffic,” McLean County Highway Engineer Eric Schmitt noted.

“Along the north end of the trail are different things done in the past, like signage along Route 66 through the states. There’s artwork and a map of the United States painted on the old pavement, showing Route 66 from California to Chicago.”

The 10-foot-wide extension will feature a hot-mix asphalt surface on gravel base. The design will be finished now that the funding is approved. There are no plans for land purchase, although there might be a little easement needed here and there.

“It’s our hope that it attracts a lot of visitors,” Schmitt said. “We get a large number of people who travel the bike trail or Route 66. We talk to people from all over the country and, actually, from all over the world. They’re here to ride the Mother Road.”