Take a scenic ride along the southwestern edge of Springfield as we head westbound on Interstate 44 toward Halltown, Missouri. This 12-mile stretch may be short, but it offers a rich cross-section of the Ozarks—mixing modern interstate travel with subtle echoes of old Route 66. Our journey begins just west of the city at the junction with Missouri Highway 360, where the bustle of Springfield’s suburbs gives way to the open horizon. This outer loop, known locally as James River Freeway, marks the final boundary between city convenience and the pastoral calm beyond. As we merge onto I-44, the road wastes no time embracing a more rural character. Exit signs for local routes like Brookline and Republic point toward small communities with deep agricultural roots, where grain silos and red barns dot the landscape just out of view.
Cruising along at highway speeds, we quickly find ourselves surrounded by gently rolling hills and wide Missouri skies. The terrain here is classic Ozarks—modest in elevation but rich in texture, with wooded draws and patchy fields on either side of the highway. Occasional glimpses of farm equipment and cattle remind us that this is working land. While this section of I-44 is designed for through traffic, it runs remarkably close to the original path of Route 66, with several former alignments weaving in and out nearby. In fact, the further west we go, the more the route seems to flirt with its storied past. Just before reaching Halltown, a sign for Missouri Highway 266 points the way to one such alignment—the original 1926 path of the Mother Road, which once carried dust-covered travelers westward on their great American adventure.
The final mile into Halltown is a fitting bookend. Exit 58 drops us directly into a community that time may have slowed but never quite passed by. Halltown is a Route 66 town through and through, home to antique stores, trading posts, and weathered signage that speaks to decades of service to road-weary motorists. Just off the interstate, Missouri Highway 96 picks up the historic Route 66 designation and continues the legacy westward. Whether you turn off here to chase nostalgia on the old road or continue barreling west toward Joplin, this stretch of I-44 serves as a gentle reminder that even our fastest highways can still run parallel with history. In a way, the route is a meeting point—between old and new, between momentum and memory.
🎵 Music:
Piano March by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
🗺️ Route Map
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