The Lincoln Highway

Carl Fisher, a wealthy auto-parts entrepreneur and dreamer, pursued a paved hard-surface coast-to-coast highway that would span the United States and close the gap between East and West. Before its completion, most American roads were unpaved, dusty trails that crooked and kinked from one settlement to the next, and their disjointed nature did not permit transcontinental travel. Recognizing the growing popularity of the automobile, Fisher saw the need for a national road that would let individuals travel at their own pace rather than by train. Construction began in 1913 on a proposed route from Times Square in New York City through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, California. Paving proved expensive, so much of the route remained unpaved until state and federal funds were invested nearly a decade later. The road stirred Americans' desire to connect and drive across the nation, but its economic success led other states to want named highways of their own, creating a confusing tangle of shared, intersecting, and overlapping routes. In March 1925, the American Association of State Highway Officials began planning a federal highway system without regard for named roads, and the route was eventually divided among U.S. 1, U.S. 30, U.S. 30N, U.S. 305, U.S. 530, U.S. 40, and U.S. 50. Its signs were removed, and by the 1940s it had faded away.

McGill, Nevada · United States