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In 1926, U.S. Route 66 was just a road connecting the country's midsection to the West Coast, but it soon came to symbolize pursuit of the American dream. One hundred years later, communities along the highway are planning centennial celebrations, including Albuquerque.

Sometimes called the Mother Road, Route 66 took its place in American culture with its own song and a 1960s television drama. University of New Mexico English Professor Emeritus David Dunaway has researched its history and written several books.

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In addition to New Mexico, he said the highway ran through eight states.

"It was cobbled together out of existing dirt and fairly primitive roads into a system that went from Los Angeles to Chicago or vice-versa," Dunaway. "We say it's a two-way road but a one-way myth."

The mythology was so strong, other countries – including Brazil, England, Japan and Switzerland – have had their own Route 66 societies and associations.

Some 20 years after it captured popular imagination, travelers on the road tuned their radios to Nat King Cole's 1946 song, "Get Your Kicks on Route 66" – increasing its popularity with tourists.

Albuquerque will celebrate the road's history on July 18.

By the 1950s, the Interstate Highway System had bypassed many of the towns along Route 66, setting off a decline of local, tourist-dependent motels, diners, and gas stations, and turning some communities into ghost towns.

That's the case in New Mexico, where Dunaway said the road ran through Budville – where few residents remain – but also central Albuquerque, now the state's largest city.

"Route 66 in New Mexico is a startling set of contrasts," said Dunaway. "Route 66 goes through long, wide open spaces, mesas and dry river beds – it is all those things."

In addition to New Mexico, Route 66 runs through Arizona, California, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. Dunaway is working with the National Park Service's Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program and recently completed an anthology, "A Route 66 Companion."

"It's been a central part of my life, once I realized how important this road was," said Dunaway, "not just to Americans, but to visitors from all over the world – and probably the first one to become a destination in and of itself."