Frequently Asked Questions, Lincoln Highway Special Resource Study

[rotating photos] credits at bottom of page

Q: Tell me more about the Lincoln Highway. Why are you studying it?

A: The Lincoln Highway started as the idea of a man named Carl Fisher in 1912. Mr. Fisher was the founder of Prest-O-Lite, a company that made some of the first headlights for gasoline powered cars. He envisioned a transcontinentalroute as a memorial to President Abraham Lincoln and saw it as a way to make more of America accessible to the growing number of automobile owners. Fisher reasoned that such a project would help spearhead the growing movement to develop "good roads" in America. The problem for automobile travelers at that time was that roads were less than ideal for motorized travel -- most were unpaved, they did not connect and lacked any particular organization, and cross-country travel by automobile was nearly unheard-of. Mr. Fisher’s dream for the Lincoln Highway was that it be the first transcontinental paved highway running from the Atlantic to the Pacific. With the help of other visionary leaders in the automotive industry , chiefly Henry Joy of Packard Motor Car Company and Frank Sieberling of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Fisher formed the Lincoln Highway Association in 1913 to collect private funds, lobby for, and build much of the Lincoln Highway. This may not seem like such a big feat today, but when you consider that the idea of these men proceeded the foundation of the Federal Highway System by more than 10 years, you might get a better understanding for how unusual and grand the effort was.

Today, the roads that comprised the Lincoln Highway include more than 3300 miles of roads that are parts of present day US Routes 1, 20, 30,40, 50, 530, and Interstate Route 80 traversing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California.

The National Park Service was directed by Congress to study the Lincoln Highway and determine the best way to preserve, commemorate, and interpret it as a unique piece of American heritage.

Q: Are you actually considering making 3300 miles of roadway a national park?

A: No, that of course wouldn’t be feasible. There are many types of units of the National Park System, some of which have very limited federal ownership or on-the-ground presence. The management options we will be looking at in this study will range from perhaps some federal involvement in providing visitor services and interpreting uniquely significant areas along the Lincoln Highway, to no involvement by the federal government beyond limited financial support to the private sector groups already involved in preserving sections of the road, or anything in between – we’re only in the early stages of this project, which will be concluded in the Fall of 2004

Q: What are the uniquely significant areas of the Highway and what makes them significant?

A: A detailed, mile-by-mile field study of the contributing cultural resources along the Lincoln Highway is one part of this project – that study will be completed this summer (summer 2002). One goal of the study is to assess the integrity of all related resources along the highway using the same criteria that would be used to determine eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. By fall, we’ll be able to augment our Lincoln Highway maps with these assessments. Those maps will ultimately answer this question and will be part of the final Special Resource Study available to the public for review and comment.

Q: What role will the public have in determining the best way to interpret the Lincoln Highway?

A: Providing opportunities for the public to comment on the NPS' Special Resource Studies is a key part of developing these studies. To help facilitate public comment and involvement, we have produced this website as well as periodic newsletters that we mail to anyone interested in this project. To be added to the mailing list, send an e-mail to Ruth_Heikkinen@nps.gov. or write your request and send to Ruth Heikkinen, National Park Service, 1709 Jackson Street, Omaha, NE 68102. Additionally, we will hold public meetings along the highway in late winter 2003, to allow the interested public to review and comment on the initial results of our field study and the recommendations on management alternatives. Click here for the schedule for those meetings. Of course, there will also be an opportunity for the public to comment on the draft document which we hope to have available in fall of 2003.

Q: Where can I get a map of the highway or more details about it?

A: For quick reference, look at the Maps page. The Resource Guide and Route Finder within the Documents section of this website would be great resources for you to start with. In addition, you might want to check out our list of Related Links for linking to other sites with Lincoln Highway information.

Three rotating photographs depict:
1) Although the Lincoln is now valued for its historic landscapes, it should be understood that it was designed to represent the epitome of modern travel. This c.1950 view of Rawlin, Wyoming's West-Way Lodge illustrates the height of modern motel design travelers expected to find along the nation's premier transcontinental highway.
2) Lincoln Highway logo on bridge from a 1913 abandoned section of the highway in Overton, Nebraska. Courtesy of Carol Ahlgren.
3) Built in 1891, the Fulton and Lyons Bridge across the Mississippi River was one of the more significant pieces of infrastructure inherited by the Lincoln Highway, which effectively changed the identity of the bridge regardless of the treacherous right-angle turn on the Iowa approach span that was more suited to the horse-drawn wagons it was built for than modern motor vehicle traffic.
Photos 1 and 3 courtesy of Kevin Patrick

For more maps click on image above

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