The Lincoln Highway Association was founded in 1913 to promote a coast-to-coast, toll-free automobile route, and the Lincoln Highway, following existing roadways through thirteen states, was dedicated on October 31, 1913. Marked by the letter "L" within red, white, and blue bands painted on telephone poles or signs, the route in Nebraska continued the Platte River Valley’s long development as a major travel corridor in American history, after use by fur traders, the U.S. Army, overland emigrants, and the transcontinental railroad during the nineteenth century. The 1.2-mile Gardiner Station section of the original Lincoln Highway and the Pratt pony-truss bridge over Prairie Creek were used from 1913 to 1928, when the highway was rerouted south of the Union Pacific tracks; by then it had received the federal designation U.S. Highway 30. The original highway section and bridge are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.