The show was hugely popular but was not what I would call great tv. The theme song is still stuck in my head almost 60 years later.
I think the only commemoration I ever saw of Route 66 was in Flagstaff, Arizona. My wife and I were Amtraking between LA and Santa Fe and got off the train in Flagstaff to rent a car (not a Corvette convertible, sadly) to visit the Grand Canyon. We drove a bit of Route 66 while there.