The Route 66 town of Needles, Calif., hopes that its future includes more railroad tourists after its historic Harvey House, El Garces, is restored by a team that refurbished another Harvey House in Winslow, Ariz., reports the Reuters wire service.

A number of towns like Needles, which based much of its business on Route 66 after railroad passenger services dried up until Interstate 40 meant travelers bypassed town at speed, have languished like their former Harvey Houses.

The El Garces, named after Father Francisco Garces, a missionary who visited the area in 1776 - faced destruction until locals persuaded the town council to buy it in 1999.

Now, with $9 million in federal and state grants, El Garces is the focal point of a plan to bring visitors back to Needles. It includes reopening the town theater and renovating another building in town to house a community college.

“After Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985, Needles didn’t have a plan,” Needles’ Mayor Jeff Williams said. “This comes very late, but at least we now have a plan.”

It is a very good plan. The fellow leading El Garces’ restoration is Alan Affeldt, who brought back La Posada in Winslow to one of the best lodging establishments in the Southwest.

Trond Moberg regularly guides motorcycle tours down Route 66 for his fellow Norwegians. Here is a 29-minute video of highlights of his 2003 tour.

Route 66 travelers going through the St. Louis area received good news over the weekend: The long-closed McKinley Bridge is set to reopen to traffic on Sept. 25, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The bridge, built in 1910 to link St. Louis to Venice, Ill., was closed in 2001 when it became too dangerously decayed to carry vehicle traffic.

Those who previously drove the bridge to follow one of St. Louis’ myriad Route 66 alignments will see changes, though:

The rebuilt span will be far from the dilapidated one taken out of commission in 2001. Its center lanes will carry two lanes of vehicle traffic. The outside lanes will carry bicycles and pedestrians.

And unlike in the past, it will have no tolls.

The Illinois Department of Transportation projects that almost 14,000 cars will use the bridge daily, meaning thousands of people at least passing through an area that has struggled in recent years. City officials envision Illinois Route 3, which connects directly to the bridge, developing into a commercial corridor.

Although it cost almost $45 million to rehab the bridge, taking it out of commission for good was never an option. The St. Louis area is rife with traffic woes, and closing a bridge over the Mississippi River wouldn’t have helped.

And the Route 66 towns of Venice, Madison and Granite City are relieved that greater access to St. Louis will be returning.

For more details about the history of the McKinley Bridge, go here.

Roland Gueffroy currently is driving Route 66 in an unorthodox way — in a refurbished Swiss postal moped.

According to his Web site:

Why take a original Swiss postal moped on Route 66? I have been asked this question, albeit in various forms, many times. It’s to be expected that this kind of tour is done with an adequate means of transportation, for example an authentic Harley-Davidson or a pink Cabriolet from the fifties:  Overly large side bumpers and comfy couch in place of the front seat. So why a postman’s moped?

I was aware of all this; very aware, however I was still left wanting to spice things up. With thousands having travelled the remains of “The Mother Road” before me, the breeze in their hair and roaring Harley beneath them, I ask myself, where is the adventure in that? Where is the substance? The meat to make it a story worth telling? Exactly! So that’s where the postman’s moped comes in. [...]

Why don’t you join us on this unconventional tour. But take your time; it will take longer travelling with a moped on an average speed of 30 miles per hour. However, this has its advantages, since there is much to see and experience on this picturesque road.

The person who e-mailed me about Gueffroy said that mechanically, everything seems to be going well so far. He’s made it from Chicago to Tulsa so far.

Still, driving a moped 2,200 miles isn’t going to be a picnic. If you like to help him, drop him a line via phone or e-mail on his contact page.