Hooker Cut - Devil's Elbow, MO
Posted by: 
Wallyum
N 37° 51.396 W 092° 03.572
15S E 582731 N 4190321
Road cut through solid rock on Route 66
Waymark Code: WM1431H
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/04/2021
Views: 2
For the sake of safety, it was thought that a new alignment of Route 66 was needed to straighten the highway and bypass a dangerous section between Hooker and Devil's Elbow. This required a fairly massive feat of engineering for the time, a cut through solid stone that was located east of the Big Piney River. It came to be called the Hooker Cut.
The Fred Weber Construction Co. of St. Louis was picked to do the project. They developed a new technique which involved terracing the rock walls to keep falling rocks from bombing the cars below. This technique is still in use today. The 90 foot-deep cut remained the deepest road cut in America for many years. Today the road is open, but is all but abandoned.
Americana: Roadside Attraction
Significant Interest: Natural Formation
Milestone or Marker: Progress Marker
Web Site Address: [Web Link]
Address of Icon:
Route 66
Devil's Elbow, MO United States
65457
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