The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. 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. The full route originally ran 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 routed the Lincoln Highway through the northern tip of West Virginia. Thus, there are 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 . Over the years, the road was improved and numerous realignments were made, See throughout, but especially index entry "Lincoln Highway route controversy". and by 1924 the highway had been shortened to . Counting the original route and all of the subsequent realignments, the path has included a grand total of .Calculated by the Lincoln Highway Association National Mapping Committee chaired by Paul Gilger, 2007
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After the Interstate Highway System was formed in the 1950s, the former alignments of the Lincoln Highway were largely superseded by Interstate 80 as the primary coast-to-coast route from the New York City area to San Francisco.
1928–1930 final routing
Most of U.S. Route 30 (US 30) from Philadelphia to western Wyoming, portions of Interstate 80 (I-80) in the western United States, most of US 50 in Nevada and California, and most of old decommissioned US 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 six 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.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. US 1/9 Truck from Jersey City westward to Newark, New Jersey. New Jersey Route 27 from Newark southwestward to Princeton, New Jersey. US 206 from Princeton southwestward to Trenton, New Jersey. US 1 from Trenton southwestward to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
US 30 from Philadelphia westward across Pennsylvania, the northern tip of West Virginia, and westward across Ohio and Indiana, to Aurora, Illinois. There have been many new four-lane bypasses constructed on US 30, so to follow the 1928 route of the Lincoln Highway, at times it is necessary to travel the old US 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. US 30 from Sterling westward across western Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Wyoming, to Granger, Wyoming. I-80 from Granger westward across western Wyoming and Utah, to West Wendover, Nevada. US 93 Alternate and US 93 from West Wendover southward to Ely, Nevada. US 50 (aka "The Loneliest Road in America") from Ely westward across Nevada, to west of Fallon, Nevada. From west of Fallon to Sacramento, California, there are two Lincoln Highway routes over the Sierra Nevada: Sierra Nevada Northern Route: US 50 Alternate northwestward to Wadsworth, Nevada, then I-80 and old US 40 westward, through Reno, Nevada, and over Donner Pass and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento. Sierra Nevada Southern Route: US 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 I-80) from Sacramento southwestward across California's Central Valley to the University Avenue exit in Berkeley, California. Originally this leg of the Lincoln Highway followed what would later become U.S. Route 50, from Sacramento south through Stockton crossing the San Joaquin River bridge at Lathrop and over the Altamont Pass to the East Bay (now I-5, I-205, and I-580), but was realigned when the Carquinez Bridge in Vallejo, was completed in 1927. University Avenue from I-80 westward to the Berkeley Pier. 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 two blocks to North Point Street. North Point Street westward three 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 two 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 Legion of Honor. The western terminus marker and interpretive plaque are located to the left of the Palace, next to the bus stop.
History
The Lincoln Highway was the first national memorial to President Abraham Lincoln in the United States, predating the 1922 dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. by nine years. As the first automobile road across the United States, 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".
The Lincoln Highway was inspired by the Good Roads Movement and the National Old Trails Road. 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, 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.
Concept and promotion In 1912, railroads dominated interstate transportation in America, and roadways were primarily of local interest. Outside cities, "market roads" were sometimes maintained by counties or townships, but maintenance of rural roads fell to those who lived along them. Many states had constitutional prohibitions against funding "internal improvements" such as road projects, and federal highway programs were not to become effective until 1921.
At the time, the country had about of rural roads, of which a mere 8.66% () had "improved" surfaces: gravel, stone, sand-clay, brick, shells, oiled earth, etc. Interstate roads were considered a luxury, something only for wealthy travelers who could spend weeks riding around in their automobiles.
Support for a system of improved interstate highways had been growing. For example, in 1911, Champ Clark, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, wrote, "I believe the time has come for the general Government to actively and powerfully co-operate with the States in building a great system of public highways ... that would bring its benefits to every citizen in the country". However, Congress as a whole was not yet ready to commit funding to such projects.
Carl G. Fisher was an early automobile entrepreneur who was the manufacturer of Prest-O-Lite carbide-gas headlights used on most early cars, and was also one of the principal investors who built the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He believed that the popularity of automobiles was dependent on good roads. In 1912, he began promoting his dream of a transcontinental highway and at a September 10 dinner meeting with industry friends in Indianapolis, he called for a coast-to-coast rock highway to be completed by May 1, 1915, in time for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. He estimated the cost at about $10 million and told the group, "Let's build it before we're too old to enjoy it!" Within a month Fisher's friends had pledged $1 million. Henry Ford, the biggest automaker of his day, refused to contribute because he believed the government should build America's roads. However, contributors included former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas A. Edison, both friends of Fisher, as well as then-current president Woodrow Wilson, the first U.S. president to make frequent use of an automobile for relaxation.
Fisher and his associates chose a name for the road, naming it after one of Fisher's heroes, Abraham Lincoln. At first, they had to consider other names, such as "The Coast-to-Coast Rock Highway" or "The Ocean-to-Ocean Highway," because the Lincoln Highway name had been reserved earlier by a group of Easterners who were seeking support to build their Lincoln Highway from Washington to Gettysburg on federal funds. When Congress turned down their proposed appropriation, the project collapsed, and Fisher's preferred name became readily available.
On July 1, 1913, the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) was established "to procure the establishment of a continuous improved highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, open to lawful traffic of all description without toll charges". The first goal of the LHA was to build the rock highway from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. The second goal was to promote the Lincoln Highway as an example to, in Fisher's words, "stimulate as nothing else could the building of enduring highways everywhere that will not only be a credit to the American people but that will also mean much to American agriculture and American commerce". Henry Joy was named as the LHA president, so that although Carl Fisher remained a driving force in furthering the goals of the association, it would not appear as his one-man crusade.