Ron, aka merkywave, of Albuquerque lists himself as a locksmith. Not only can he pick locks, but he can pick guitar, as this country blues version of “Route 66″ shows.

The old Fifth Street Bridge that carried Route 66 over Interstate 215 in San Bernardino, Calif., is going to be demolished soon, making way for a new Fifth Street bridge. It’s part of a long-planned I-215 widening project.

However, people will have the opportunity to take pieces of it home as a Route 66 souvenir, reports the San Bernardino County Sun.

“We’re going to chip up some pieces of the bridge, little chunks … and put them in plastic cube boxes with a label on it,” said Jane Dreher, spokeswoman for San Bernardino Associated Governments. “We’re going to have some photographs of the old bridge when it was being constructed in 1959.”

On Feb. 1, Sanbag, the county’s regional transportation agency, will host a tour of the site at 10 a.m. and pieces of the old bridge will be handed out.

The bridge was a fairly nondescript-looking structure, which fits in the time when it was built. Images of the old bridge can be seen in this pdf documents here and here.

The new bridge can be seen in artist’s rendering here. I have to say the new bridge looks marginally better.

Those who got soaked by rainstorms last year during the annual Fire and Ice Bike Rally in Grants, N.M., will be happy to hear that officials plan to build a Route 66 Pavilion to provide festivalgoers and entertainers shelter from future inclement weather, reports the Cibola County Beacon.

The current plan is to build the 60-foot by 125-foot structure out of wood. Clay tiles will be used on the roof so the structure will be similar in appearance to the post office and gazebo, which are both nearby. The covered square footage of the structure will be 5,950 square feet and will provide 1,860 square feet of shaded area. Not only will building the pavilion be more aesthetically pleasing, the cost will be less than if the structure was metal.

The pavilion will incorporate park benches and trees and provide a stable foundation for community events.

An artist’s conception of the project can be seen with the story link.

Local officials will have to deal with issues like funding and drainage. There’s no timetable of when the pavilion, if approved, will be finished.