Can route rules affect images, css, and JS?

[eluser]NateL[/eluser]
I'm having an issue where I've set up some route rules to pick up the first and second segments of the URI and do something with them.

Now, when I try to display an image, it doesn't work:

example.com/img/image.jpg triggers a 404 error.

With that said, where is a good place for all of my CSS, JS, and Images to be placed? public_html? or in CI views?