Wikipedia: Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway is one of the earliest transcontinental highway routes for automobiles across the United States.^[1] Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 1913, the Lincoln Highway runs coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City west to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally through 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. In 1915, the "Colorado Loop" was removed, and in 1928, a realignment relocated the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia. Thus, there are a total of 14 states, 128 counties, and more than 700 cities, towns and villages through which the highway passed at some time in its history.

The first officially recorded length of the entire Lincoln Highway in 1913 was 3,389 miles (5,454 km).^[a] Over the years, the road was improved and numerous realignments were made,^[3] and by 1924 the highway had been shortened to 3,142 miles (5,057 km). Counting the original route and all of the subsequent realignments, there has been a grand total of 5,872 miles (9,450 km).^[4]

The Lincoln Highway was gradually replaced with numbered designations after the establishment of the U.S. Numbered Highway System in 1926, with most of the route becoming U.S. Route 30 from Pennsylvania to Wyoming. After the Interstate Highway System was formed in the 1950s, the former alignments of the Lincoln Highway were largely superseded by Interstate 80 as the primary coast-to-coast route from the New York City area to San Francisco.

History

The Lincoln Highway was America's first national memorial to President Abraham Lincoln, predating the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., by nine years. As the first automobile road across America, the Lincoln Highway brought great prosperity to the hundreds of cities, towns and villages along the way. The Lincoln Highway became affectionately known as "The Main Street Across America".^[6]

The Lincoln Highway was inspired by the Good Roads Movement. In turn, the success of the Lincoln Highway and the resulting economic boost to the governments, businesses and citizens along its route inspired the creation of many other named long-distance roads (known as National Auto Trails), such as the Yellowstone Trail, National Old Trails Road, Dixie Highway, Jefferson Highway, Bankhead Highway, Jackson Highway, Meridian Highway and Victory Highway. Many of these named highways were supplanted by the United States Numbered Highways system of 1926. Most of the 1928 Lincoln Highway route became U.S. Route 30 (US 30), with portions becoming US 1 in the East and US 40, US 50 and US 93 in the West.

Most significantly, the Lincoln Highway inspired the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (Public Law 84-627), which was championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, influenced by his experiences as a young soldier crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway. Today, Interstate 80 (I-80) is the cross-country highway most closely aligned with the Lincoln Highway. In the West, particularly in Wyoming, Utah and California, sections of I-80 are paved directly over old alignments of the Lincoln Highway.

The Lincoln Highway Association, originally established in 1913 to plan, promote, and sign the highway, was re-formed in 1992 and is now dedicated to promoting and preserving the road.

1928–1930 final routing

Note: A fully interactive free online map of the entire Lincoln Highway and all of its re-alignments, markers, monuments and points of interest can be viewed at the Lincoln Highway Association Official Map website.^[5] Google Maps prominently labels the 1928–1930 route.

Most of U.S. Route 30 from Philadelphia to western Wyoming, portions of Interstate 80 in the western United States, most of U.S. Route 50 in Nevada and California, and most of old decommissioned U.S. Route 40 in California are alignments of the Lincoln Highway. The final (1928–1930) alignment of the Lincoln Highway corresponds roughly to the following roads:

• 42nd Street from the intersection of Broadway at Times Square in New York City westward 6 blocks to the Hudson River. The Lincoln Highway Eastern Terminus is marked by a metal street sign that says simply “Lincoln Highway” mounted on the street lamp pole at the northeast corner of 42nd Street and Broadway.

• Holland Tunnel from New York City westward under the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey.
  (Note: The Lincoln Tunnel (opened in 1937), near 42nd Street, was not an original part of the Lincoln Highway. In 1913, Lincoln Highway travelers crossed the Hudson River via the Weehawken Ferry from New York City to Union City, New Jersey. In 1928, the Lincoln Highway was re-routed through the Holland Tunnel (opened in 1927) from New York City to Jersey City. However, the original Lincoln Highway Association made no attempt to map a route from Times Square to the Holland Tunnel.)

• U.S. Route 1/9 Truck from Jersey City westward to Newark, New Jersey.

• New Jersey Route 27 from Newark southwestward to Princeton, New Jersey.

• U.S. Route 206 from Princeton southwestward to Trenton, New Jersey.

• U.S. Route 1 from Trenton southwestward to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Lincoln Highway in Bedford, Pennsylvania

• U.S. Route 30 from Philadelphia westward across Pennsylvania, the northern tip of West Virginia, and westward across Ohio and Indiana, to Aurora, Illinois.
  (Note: There have been many new 4-lane bypasses constructed on U.S. Route 30, so to follow the 1928 route of the Lincoln Highway, at times it is necessary to travel the old U.S. Route 30 alignments through the center of the cities and towns along the route.)

• Illinois Route 31 from Aurora northwestward to Geneva, Illinois.

• Illinois Route 38 from Geneva westward to Dixon, Illinois.

• Illinois Route 2 from Dixon westward to Sterling, Illinois.

• U.S. Route 30 from Sterling westward across western Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming, to Granger, Wyoming.

• Interstate 80 from Granger westward across western Wyoming and Utah, to West Wendover, Nevada.

• U.S. Route 93 Alternate and U.S. Route 93 from West Wendover southward to Ely, Nevada.

• U.S. Route 50 (aka “The Loneliest Road in America”) from Ely westward across Nevada, to 9 miles west of Fallon, Nevada.

• From 9 miles west of Fallon to Sacramento, California, there are two Lincoln Highway routes over the Sierra Nevada:

  • Sierra Nevada Northern Route: U.S. Route 50 Alternate northwestward to Wadsworth, Nevada, then Interstate 80 & old U.S. Route 40 westward, through Reno, Nevada, and over Donner Pass and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento.

  • Sierra Nevada Southern Route: U.S. Route 50 westward, through Carson City, Nevada, then around Lake Tahoe and over Johnson Pass (nearby Echo Summit) and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento.

• Old U.S. Route 40 (with sections under Interstate 80) from Sacramento southwestward across California's Central Valley to the University Avenue exit in Berkeley, California.
  (Note: Originally this leg of the Lincoln Highway followed what would later become U.S. Route 50, from Sacramento south through Stockton and over the Altamont Pass to the East Bay (now Interstates 5, 205, and 580), but was realigned when the Carquinez Bridge in Vallejo, California was completed in 1927.)

• University Avenue from Interstate 80 westward to the Berkeley Pier.
  (Note: In 1928, Lincoln Highway travelers crossed the San Francisco Bay via a ferry from the Berkeley Pier to the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco.)

• From the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco, take:

  • Hyde Street southward 2 blocks to North Point Street.

  • North Point Street westward 3 blocks to Van Ness Avenue.

  • Van Ness Avenue southward 16 blocks to California Street.

  • California Street westward 54 blocks to 32nd Avenue.

  • 32nd Avenue northward 2 blocks to Camino del Mar

  • Camino del Mar westward into Lincoln Park, arriving at the Lincoln Highway Western Terminus at the plaza and fountain in front of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. The Western Terminus Marker and Interpretive Plaque are located to the left of the Palace, next to the bus stop.

Links

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