The stretch of current 66 from Hackberry to Grand Canyon Caverns is crisscrossed by lots of abandoned sections of earlier alignments. Some are really cool. At this location, old 66 goes around a small hill engineered with a notable bank to the road to help cars negotiate the curve. The current alignment straightens the road with a roadcut at the crest of the hill.

This reminds me of that Sally quote from the Pixar flick “Cars”:

Sally : Well, the road didn’t cut through the land like that interstate. It moved with the land, it rose, it fell, it curved. Cars didn’t drive on it to make great time. They drove on it to have a great time.

Even Route 66 betrayed itself by cutting through the land, leaving the former contour-hugging roadbed to abandonment and erosion. Just kind of para-meta-quasi-ironic.