The Beginning of the Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway was the first coast-to-coast highway built in 1913. A group of visionary businessmen from the automotive industry, led by Henry B. Joy and Carl Fisher, formed the Lincoln Highway Association.
The Association successfully spearheaded the creation of the publicly funded road that stretched from New York City, NY to San Francisco, CA. The road would be the first transcontinental highway. The Association engaged in very little actual road building, but it did fire the public's imagination and soon their project was under way. When it was completed it stretched 3,389 miles.
In Pennsylvania, much of the Lincoln Highway was constructed by improving and linking pre-existing roads, including the turnpikes and Forbes Road. It was a focal point of the Good Roads Movement, which would untimately lead to the development of highways all over the nation.
The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor, is a non-profit heritage region that follows the Lincoln Highway through six Pennsylvania counties: Westmoreland, Somerset, Bedford, Fulton, Franklin, and Adams.
The first segments of the Lincoln Highway measured ten feet wide. Later, a wider width was recommended so two automobiles could drive on the road at the same time. Then, an 18-foot minimum in 1918 was established, and it still was not wide enough as seen in the photograph above. Today, PennDOT specifications call for a 24' width for two-lane, local access roads.
Marker can be reached from the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue (Old Route 30) and Main Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
