What nickname did John Steinbeck popularize for U.S. Route 66?

John Steinbeck popularized “The Mother Road” as a nickname for U.S. Route 66.

The phrase appears in Steinbeck’s 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, which follows an Oklahoma family traveling west during the Dust Bowl era. In the novel, Route 66 is presented as a central path for migrants seeking work and a new life in California.

Steinbeck’s description helped transform a numbered highway into a cultural symbol. Route 66 already carried traffic, commerce, and migrants, but the novel gave it a memorable literary identity that endured long after the highway was decommissioned.

Route 66 has other nicknames, including “Main Street of America” and “Will Rogers Highway.” Those names are genuine, but “The Mother Road” is the expression most directly associated with Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath.