US-50 Coast to Coast

We have driven US-50 through the Mid-west. X2 on the Space Museum in Hutchinson. There is also Middle America and Sod House Museum in Kinsley, KS.

I am surprised that no one has given you a link to this US-50 Website.

There's a Lincoln Highway association that has mapped out the old routes. Right from the start it was composed of roads built for local use, and segments changed frequently. In the eastern half of the country it roughly follows US30 and and I80 further west.

Named highways were mostly creations of associations composed of local chambers interested in promoting tourism and business.

Lincoln Hwy thread

roadtripusa.com US50 description

scroller95969 wrote:
What about the old Lincoln Highway?

NYC
Newark
Trenton
Philadelphia
York
Bedford
Pittsburg
Chester
Canton
Mansfield
Fort Wayne
South Bend
Joliet
Aurora
Franklin
Clinton
Marshallton
Boone
Denison
Omaha
Kearny
Sidney
Cheyenne
Medicine Bow
Rock Springs
Fort Bridger
Salt Lake City
Ely
Eureka
Austin
Fallon
Truckee
Sacramento
San Francisco

A lot of the Lincoln Highway route became US-30 in the East, US-50 and I-70 in the West, I-80 across the western grasslands and Rocky Mountains. Some of the connections are still local highways, some on US-numbered highways still part of the trunk system.

I've driven about 1000 miles of it in different places (Iowa, Wyoming, Utah, Indiana) on different trips, without intentionally making it a Lincoln Highway trip. There is a Lincoln Highway association that can help with the route.

What about the old Lincoln Highway?

I've done Sacramento CA to Newton KS on various trips, not all at once. I would suggest the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson KS. They have the Apollo 13 capsule. Lehman Cave in Nevada. that's a nice little NP. Plan your gas stops across Utah and Nevada.

Water-Bug wrote:
Anyone out there ever driven US-50 from coast to coast? It seems like it would be the closest we could come now a days to the original Route 66 experience. (Coast to coast with no limited access freways) If you've done it, what are the pitfalls and don't miss experiences?

Oddly, I've done the Eastern-most 100 miles or so, from Ocean City, MD to the other side of DC, and the Western-most end of it, from Tahoe to Sacramento. But not much in between... :)

It looks to be a very do-able journey, esp. if you're looking for a 'journey', not a fast 'route'. And it sounds like you are.

The chunk of it in Utah that runs concurrent with I-70 is OK, and we did a little tiny piece of it there back in 2012 between Salina and Scipio, that runs between I-15 and I-70. Nothing spectacular there.

We've been on almost all of US 50 from Placerville, CA to just north of Louisville, KY at one time or another. Most of it on our motorcycle.

In most places it is a good road, mostly 2 lane. The only stretch of it I didn't like was through Kansas City. You will have to travel I-70 from Grand Junction, CO. to the middle of Utah. The Nevada portion is known as the "loneliest highway" but we love it. There are 7 (if I recall correctly) passes over which you travel across the state. It is desolate but an enjoyable trip for us.

As we live about 40 miles north of it here in Missouri, we are on it frequently. It would make a relaxing trip but don't expect to make very good time. We figure to average 45-50 MPH while traveling on it due to traffic and towns.

Let us know how it works for you.

US-50 is not your only option. Much of the US numbered highway system is still there, and parts of it heavily used, once you get out of the coastal areas where the Interstate system is dense enough to carry local traffic. Much of what is well traveled was upgraded in the 1980's and 1990's (the project may still be going on), doubling much of the road to four-lane divided and bypassing towns, and widening what was left to modern (12' or wider) lane widths where it is two lane.

I've covered US-60 from the Texas Panhandle to it's eastern end, and large sections of US-24, US-36, US-40, US-54, and US-66 (no longer a route on the U.S. system, since it was totally paralleled by Interstate). My US-50 experience is just eastern Kansas to Green River, and from southern Ohio into Virginia. I've also traveled sections of US-90, US-98, US-6 and US-2.

US-60 and US-50 are fairly well separated from the Interstates until you get past the Rockies.

US-40 is kind of rough to follow because a lot of it was torn up to be replaced by I-70, and where you can get off, the old highway routing is the business route through densely populated urban areas.

24, 36, 54, 66 are not coast to coast, all start somewhere west of the Atlantic Coast and not all go to the Pacific.

Another travel option, off Interstates, is to try to follow one of the national highways that preceded the numbered highway system introduced in the 1930s. One that went coast to coast was the Lincoln Highway (New York to San Francisco) while the National Road existed in the East (Cumberland to Vandalia) (mostly becoming US-40).

For guidance, many of the old highways have historical associations, and if you just want to try the mid-twentieth century numbered highways, I find "Road Trip USA" by Jamie Jensen to be a useful planning tool for these trips. The most recent edition I have (Fourth) outlines six North-South routes (four border to border or border to coast) and five East-West routes (four of those coast to coast, including US-50).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_50

You can also look at any segment in great detail via Google Maps. You can tell exactly where it is 2 lane, 4lane urban, divided, where's climbing mountains, slowing down for little towns, and bypassing cities.

I've driven US-2 from St. Ignas Michigan to Washington state back in the late '70s. Use to drive US-50 from Sacremento thru Lake Tahoe to Nevada in the same timeframe. Recently drove US-50 from West Virginia into Ohio. The idea of US-50 coast to coast just seems like it would be a great thing to do. I'm currently in Florida but summer is coming.