Submerged Route 66 Boat Tour

With the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road, new thing to see and do are popping up everywhere. One of the latest is the Submerged Route 66 Boat Tour, A Sunken Road Story Resurfaced.

The story behind the tour.

The tour is the brainchild of Geoff Ladd, Assistant director of Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway, Geoff thought a tour sharing information about Route 66 under Lake Springfield would be of interest. Turned out he’s right. Although free, this fun tour is “sold out” until July! Fear not though because they are offering three tours a day until October 2, 2026. Tours are offered Mondays and Fridays at 11:30, 1:00 and 2:30 p.m.

Our guide on the tour that Keith and I took was Penny Black. She calls herself “A Route 66 Fun Addict”. Penny is an official Route 66 Tour Guide for the Springfield Convention and Visitor’s Bureau that is offering the tour along with the Springfield Marina.

We were lucky enough to have our tour at the same time with Penny and Geoff aboard as well. To add to the fun, Keith’s cousin Andy Goleman, and friend Gwen Montgomery were on the same tour.

We met at the Lake Springfield Marina and a group of about six of us set out like they say on Gilligan’s Island for, “A (one instead of three) hour tour.” Well, its actually 45 minutes, but who’s counting?

Route 66

Route 66 was officially decommissioned according to Penny in 1985. In Springfield there are three distinct historic alignments 1926, 1930, and 1940. According to Illinois 66, “Route 66 travels directly through Springfield and was part of the 1926 alignment. You can visit portions of the original road near Carpenter Park, Lake Springfield and a 1.25 mile stretch of historic brick road listed on the National Register of Historic Places.”

The section near the Lake Springfield Marina shares some of that original alignment, some of which is under water. The section underwater was submerged when Sugar Creek was dammed in 1933. Penny and Geoff shared stories of the road and while you can’t see beneath Lake Springfield’s murky water. You can imagine the concrete bed of the road beneath the surface. Although the lake is about 4,000 acres it is only about 13 feet Geoff said. In the section over the road even though the Lake is up he said, “We are only about 15 to 20 feet above the road.”

A bit of history.

” In 1952 -1955 we had a major drought, and Penny shared that Route 66 was visible for the first time sin in 20 years.” She had a picture of what this looked like. On the tour we saw bridges, birds and more and with Penny and Geoff’s insight could imagine the road beneath Lake Springfield’s murky water.

During the ride, Keith and Andy shared individual stories of the road over time. That is one thing that makes this a fascinating tour is everyone’s own stories of Route 66. Keith recalled hearing Leroy Seiz the story of riding a bike as a boy over the Lake Bridge before it was completely finished.

Behind the Mariana

After our tour Geoff led us to the section of the route behind the marina. Penny who lived for years in California has traversed the road many times. Her journeys began road tripping its her father as a child.

Take time to take a walk on Route 66 behind the marina. This was something I had never done before. Take advantage of the opportunities offered during the 100th anniversary of this amazing historical route right in our own backyard.