Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway is one of the biggest highways in the US. The Lincoln Highway was the first road across America. This famed transcontinental highway, the first practical automobile road to link the East and West coasts of the United States, was actively promoted by entreprenuer Carl G. Fisher. By early September 1912, he began organizing the effort by holding a dinner meeting in Indianapolis with many of his automobile industry friends where he urged their support to help fund it.

The Lincoln Highway spanned almost 3400 miles (5400 km), coast-to-coast, from Times Square in New York City 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 (and 128 counties) through which the highway passed at some time in its history.

As the first road across America, the Lincoln Highway brought great prosperity to hundreds of cities, towns, and villages along the way. Affectionately, the Lincoln Highway became known as "The Main Street Across America", a nickname that, even today, remains synonymous with the famous old road. Additionally, with the renewed interest in America's historic two-lane highways, and in deference to Route 66 having been nicknamed "The Mother Road" by John Steinbeck, the older and longer Lincoln Highway has become regarded as "The Father Road", a nickname used regularly by American Road magazine, and by author Michael Wallis in his recent book, The Lincoln Highway, the Great American Road Trip.



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