Springfield aldermen have voted to accept more than $600,000 in state grant funding designed to bolster Route 66 attractions ahead of the upcoming centennial celebration for the storied highway.
The money will pay for the restoration of the Shea’s Service Station site on Peoria Road.
That was a working gas station on Route 66 for decades and was later converted to a Route 66 museum, but the property has been fenced off for years.
City officials want to re-establish it as a tourist destination where people can stop and take pictures.
Money from the grant will also pay for a series of Route 66-themed murals along the highway’s original route through Sangamon County.
