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IrelandBusiness Insider finds Route 66's survivors beyond the bypass
Abby Narishkin returns to the road she grew up along, visiting neon motels, a custard institution and a steakhouse that moved with the traffic.
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Why America Abandoned Route 66
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- 1:35Ted Drewes co-owner Travis Dillon demonstrates the dense frozen custard known as a concrete.
- 7:40Rob and Dawn Federico preserve the Blue Swallow Motel's vintage roadside experience in Tucumcari.
- 12:38New interstate highways bypassed small towns; Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985.
- 20:43The Big Texan survived the traffic shift by relocating to the interstate frontage.
- 25:47MidPoint Cafe owner Brenda Bradley serves green chili apple pie and discusses the demands of running the business.
Bobby Lee remembers his father's steakhouse going from a full dining room to barely anyone at all. The customers hadn't suddenly lost their appetite. The interstate had moved the traffic elsewhere.
That is the business story inside Business Insider's "Why America Abandoned Route 66," its most-watched new upload of a fifteen-video week. Approaching half a million views, Abby Narishkin's documentary follows the highway's centennial through the people who have found ways to keep serving travelers.
At the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, Rob and Dawn Federico preserve an older kind of overnight stop. Rob describes wanting to own, maintain and live in a piece of Americana, and to keep its neon alive. In Amarillo, The Big Texan's answer was more drastic: relocate to the interstate frontage. Its steak challenge supplies spectacle, while social media offers another way to bring people through the door.
Viewers are adding their own road memories: motorcycle journeys, New Mexico trading posts and the pleasure of finding towns with businesses that don't look like everywhere else. Others pick up on the documentary's central point, that infrastructure can redirect a town's livelihood along with its traffic.
The channel collected roughly 12.5 million views across the week, with its subscriber count unchanged. Among its business-channel neighbors, Max Klymenko and Caleb Hammer had larger weekly viewing totals, while Bloomberg Originals had a quieter week.
Route 66 is also Business Insider's busiest video right now. The broader schedule ranged from conveyor-belt sushi to undersea cables, and "Inside America's Only Internet Sea Cable Maker" continues drawing viewers after passing five million views. Roads above ground and cables beneath the ocean make a fitting pair: both reveal the businesses built around getting something from here to there.
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What viewers say
To me the story of Route 66 is a great testament to how infrastructure development impacts travel, traffic, trade and towns.
@kaeso101See it on YouTubeWife and I have attempted 66 twice on our motorcycles and absolutely loved it. We made it as far as armarillo texas from Chicago
@emminentvictorySee it on YouTubeI'm not American, I've never been there, but I clicked on this video because I've watched Cars ❤️😊
@Santosh_skcSee it on YouTube
6 more comments
You did an excellent job on this video. As much as you touched on it, the uniqueness of the small businesses and the friendliness of small-town strangers are a vastly underrated commodity in this country.
@st3435See it on YouTubeI just drove the entire route and I must say that it made me love America even more!
The people I met along the way were incredible! ❤@TravelwithchrisSee it on YouTubeIt's so heartening to see these business owners fighting to keep the history of the 'Mother Road' alive. The dedication at places like the Blue Swallow Motel and Midpoint Cafe really highlights what makes American road trips so special.
@SamsonOhsemSee it on YouTubeThis was a great video. Could feel the emotion and the history and the significance of the route. Well done.
@tkoot6473See it on YouTubeWhat a nice piece of filmmaking. Good work Abby and crew, and kudos to whoever came up with the idea to do this for Business Insider.
@stormelemental13See it on YouTube15 years getting my kicks on Rt. 66 in Arizona. 10 years in Oatman, and 5 in Seligman. Great time in my life, I have many fond memories from those days.
@cavecookie1See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- Business Insider
- Subscribers
- 10,600,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 12,493,526
- Videos published this week
- 15
- Video published
- October 25, 2026
- Video views so far
- 474,817
- Views on its first day
- 194,369
The numbers
Here is Business Insider's week in views and subscribers.
💡 Test your knowledge
Which town is home to the Blue Swallow Motel in the documentary?
Narishkin visits Rob and Dawn Federico at the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico.