What highway is central to the story of Pixar's Cars?

U.S. Route 66 is the highway central to the story of Pixar's Cars.

The film's fictional Radiator Springs is presented as a once-busy roadside town bypassed when Interstate 40 replaced the old route as the main through road. That change explains the town's economic decline and gives Lightning McQueen's accidental stop a strong historical setting.

Route 66 ran from Chicago to Santa Monica and became famous through travel, roadside businesses, popular culture, and migration. Although the film invents its town and characters, many visual details were inspired by real places along the historic highway.

A common mix-up is calling the fictional road itself Route 66. The movie's setting is not a documentary map location; it is a composite inspired by Route 66 communities, especially in the American Southwest. Route 66 was officially removed from the U.S. Highway System in 1985.