Runway
The main runway at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport is the original runway of the air base and at just over 13,500 feet (4,100 m) in length is one of the longest in the country for use in commercial aviation. Because of its length, and Amarillo's centralized location, it is considered a secondary landing facility for NASA's space shuttle in the case of emergency. The Space Shuttle Atlantis did briefly 'land' in Amarillo, Texas on July 1, 2007, but only while riding piggy-back atop a modified NASA Boeing 747, during a ferry flight from Edwards AFB in the California desert to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The runway bisected the original location of the famed Mother Road; Historic U.S. Route 66. Aerial photos and Google Earth still show evidence and fragments of original bar ditches and pavement directly through the center of the airport property. Enthusiasts attempting to retrace the original route must detour around the airport; one of the few inaccessible stretches of the historic route because of legal restrictions and perhaps the only segment in the entire nearly 2,400-mile (3,900 km) route that is FAA controlled.
Read more about this topic: Amarillo Air Force Base