Lincoln Highway

[roadman65]

I noticed that north of the PA Turnpike where US 1 is full freeway into New Jersey, the Lincoln Highway is Business US 1.  That, of course, is understandable, but where US 1 Business ends south of Pendall near Neshaminy, the old US 1 does not carry the business designation as it is a local road not PennDOT maintained.  Plus the section of the freeway from PA 132 to US 1 Business was the first part of that freeway to be constructed along with the section up to Oxford Valley which for years was not assigned a number until 1987 when the remainder of the freeway to Morrisville was opened to traffic.  Even then PennDOT did not remove the US 1 signs off of its old route until 1990.

Anyway, the old unnumbered US 1 from the Philadelphia Line to the current US 1 Business interchange is now called Old Lincoln Highway with the Lincoln Highway being the US 1 freeway.  Does anyone know why US 1 Business was not changed to Old Lincoln Highway and the Lincoln Highway being given to the rest of the US 1 Freeway?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Can you show us on http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/map/ what you're speaking of?

[roadman65]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Neshaminy+Mall,+Bensalem&hl=en&ll=40.148176,-74.951477&spn=0.016139,0.042272&sll=40.162903,-76.152688&sspn=0.004067,0.010568&oq=nesha&t=h&hq=Neshaminy+Mall,&hnear=Bensalem,+Bucks,+Pennsylvania&fll=40.145814,-74.953666&fspn=0.01614,0.042272&z=15

You will see that old US 1 south of Business  US 1 is called Old Lincoln Highway.  While the new (or quite a few decades old) freeway US 1 through the PA Turnpike interchange is called Lincoln Highway.  Yet where both US 1 and US 1 Business parallel each other the name Lincoln Highway shifts on to the original US 1 and instead of being applied to the freeway.

[Alps]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Neshaminy+Mall,+Bensalem&hl=en&ll=40.148176,-74.951477&spn=0.016139,0.042272&sll=40.162903,-76.152688&sspn=0.004067,0.010568&oq=nesha&t=h&hq=Neshaminy+Mall,&hnear=Bensalem,+Bucks,+Pennsylvania&fll=40.145814,-74.953666&fspn=0.01614,0.042272&z=15

You will see that old US 1 south of Business  US 1 is called Old Lincoln Highway.  While the new (or quite a few decades old) freeway US 1 through the PA Turnpike interchange is called Lincoln Highway.  Yet where both US 1 and US 1 Business parallel each other the name Lincoln Highway shifts on to the original US 1 and instead of being applied to the freeway.

Can you use a source that's not Google Maps? They're as trustworthy as political candidates.

[roadman65]

I was there myself plenty of times.  The jughandle on NB US 1 after Roosevelt Boulevard dual carrigeways merge together just after the Bucks County Line has the street signage say Old Lincoln Highway there. I twice stayed at the motor lodge at that intersection so I had to leave US 1 at the jughandle plenty of times.

Then travelvision maps show also the Business US 1 as Lincoln Highway, but not Old Lincoln Highway.  Also travelvision shows the word Lincoln on the US 1 freeway then the word Highway on Business US 1.  Then, I believe, the street signs in Pendell show US 1 Business as Lincoln Highway as well.

[akotchi]

Old Lincoln Highway, according to the street signs in the area, extends from U.S. 1 (at the referenced jughandle) to Bristol Road.   North of there, the road is actually a one-way ramp from U.S. 1 Business SB to Bristol Road.  The railroad crossing north of this ramp forms a break in Old Lincoln Highway, but it picks up again north of the tracks, passes Neshaminy High School (roughly parallel to the freeway for a short stretch), then continues northeast and ends at PA 213 just outside Langhorne Borough.

[roadman65]

 I see that now.  Also, I remember that the street sign on the PA 213 bridge over I-95 saying Old Lincoln Highway.  US 1 is the second existence of the famous road.  Apparently, it went into Langhorne at first.  Then when the new US 1 came into play it was moved out of Langhorne to bypass it.  I am guessing that the section of Old Lincoln Highway in the vicinity of the Turnpike was made to be called it, when PennDoT handed the jurisdiction of the old US 1 over to the locals.  Being that the old Langhorne routing ended at Bristol Road there was no parallel  Old Lincoln Highway south of there so it could be a continuation of the other old road north of the tracks. 

The freeway part from the PA Turnpike to Business US 1 was built many years before the rest  of it and it was decided to be the new Lincoln Highway at the time just to keep continuity with US 1's alignment at the time.   If there were no other Old Lincoln Highway nearby, maybe the local government might of moved the highway along with US 1 in 1987.

I am only guessing at it.  It seems to be the only explanation.

[hm insulators]

/quote]
Can you use a source that's not Google Maps? They're as trustworthy as political candidates.

[Compulov]

Was current PA-213 ever signed as US-1? I've seen maps from the 50s where the current freeway terminated at what is now 213, but I don't think I've ever seen the section from that point into Langhorne signed as US-1. 213, Bus. 1, and US-1 are a great example of growth, though. First you had Lincoln Highway (US-1? nee PA-213) into downtown, then you had the bypass (now Bus. 1), then as there was more growth on the bypass, the bypass itself got bypassed (US-1 Freeway). You can see on satellite photos where some of the older right-of-way was probably upgraded as they made it grade-separated, since I believe that section (with the concrete shoulders through Langhorne) had at-grade intersections originally.

[SignBridge]

Roadman, a point of info: When the freeway was under construction in the 1980's it was assigned a PA route number (281 I think), before being called US-1. I don't remember seeing any signs displaying that number, but it did originally show on maps as PA-281. I think at that time even on I-95, the exits to the freeway were only signed as "Neshaminy" and "Oxford Valley" with no route number shown, if memory serves.

[NE2]

Roadman, a point of info: When the freeway was under construction in the 1980's it was assigned a PA route number (281 I think), before being called US-1.

281 was a legislative route number. Every state-maintained highway had one until 1987.

[cpzilliacus]

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Neshaminy+Mall,+Bensalem&hl=en&ll=40.148176,-74.951477&spn=0.016139,0.042272&sll=40.162903,-76.152688&sspn=0.004067,0.010568&oq=nesha&t=h&hq=Neshaminy+Mall,&hnear=Bensalem,+Bucks,+Pennsylvania&fll=40.145814,-74.953666&fspn=0.01614,0.042272&z=15

You will see that old US 1 south of Business  US 1 is called Old Lincoln Highway.  While the new (or quite a few decades old) freeway US 1 through the PA Turnpike interchange is called Lincoln Highway.  Yet where both US 1 and US 1 Business parallel each other the name Lincoln Highway shifts on to the original US 1 and instead of being applied to the freeway.

Can you use a source that's not Google Maps? They're as trustworthy as political candidates.

Best. Quip. Ever.  In reference to the often incorrect Google Maps.