What would be the Route 66 of the East?

[CanesFan27]

After Saturday's trip into Southside Virginia - and all of the great
pre-Interstate businesses we found, active and abandoned - I started to think
about the Old US 66 trip I did last spring. There are plenty of sites (motor
courts, restaurants, neon signs, small towns) and situations (bypassed by the
interstate, abandoned businesses, empty two and sometimes four lane roads)
similar to that of the revered "Mother Road".

So I have come up with five routes along with reasons for and against being the
East Coast version of Route 66.

US 1: The Backbone US Route of the East Coast - Travels through major cities
including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.
Parallels Interstates 85 and 95 for significant portions of the route. However,
runs as an independent route from Henderson, NC to Jacksonville, FL.

US 301: Bypassed and pretty much ignored by long distanced travelers by
Interstate 95 from Richmond/Petersburg, VA to south of Florence, SC. Roadside
America attraction; South of the Border. It wasn't a major route in the 40's or
50's. Traffic south to Florida went via US 1 or the Ocean Highway.

US 29: Major US Highway serving Washington, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Parallels
and is bypassed by Interstate 85 from Greensboro, NC to Tuskegee, AL.
Unfortunately, this route doesn't have the lore of a US 1 or Route 66.

Dixie Highway (Various US Routes): It was the main route to Florida from the
Midwest and dates from the Auto Trails Era. Much of the Dixie Highway became US
Routes that would in turn fall to nearby Interstates. The numerous branches of
the Dixie Highway makes it difficult to trace a specific route.

Ocean Highway (US 13/US 17): Created to help promote tourism along the coast,
the Ocean Highway was the closest to the coast of all N/S routes. Mainly serves
small towns, cities, and resort areas. For the most part untouched by an
Interstate.

So which of these five highways do you consider as the East Coast's "Route 66"?
Or do you have another highway in mind?

I have a poll up at seroads (Southeast Roads at Y!Groups) if you wish to vote:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seroads/polls

[agentsteel53]

how about US-80?  or, if you'd like to follow the I-20 corridor, then US-80 in Miss and LA, US-78 in Alabama and Georgia, and US-278 in SC.

whatever makes this work out nice.

also, I know of some really, really abandoned segments of US-11, especially in Tenn and Miss, as that route is essentially half I-59, half I-81, and the rest covered by approximately I-75.  There are parts of 11 in Mississippi that you would not think have been a US route since the 40s, but it is still officially on the books as US-11.

[agentsteel53]

for a more northern option (apart from the US-11 segment bypassed by I-81), let's go with US-20, which has been largely superceded by I-90 in Mass, NY, PA, Ohio, Indy, even Illy for a little bit.  I know of 1930s glass cateye signs just off of US-20...

[CanesFan27]

Jake,

Those are all great "others"!  Each route has it's own personality.  It will be interesting to see what people think matches 66 the best.

[Duke87]

US 9.

I mean, hey, it's Broadway! (well, sort of)

You also get the Jersey Shore, the Hudson Valley, and the Adirondacks.

[Ian]

I-66 

Adam made a comment about US 1, which I can agree to. In Maine, between Portland and Brunswick where it runs parallel to I-295, there isn't much traffic on it. I always enjoy passing by the Maine Idyll Motor Court neon sign north of Freeport every year when I head up there.

[jemacedo9]

for me, either US 30 from Pittsburgh thru PA and NJ to Atlantic City (Lincoln Hwy in PA)...a lot of history on that road starting in the PA mountains, Gettysburg, Amish Country in Lancaster, Philly's Main Line, and Independence Hall in Philly.

OR

US 40, the National Road, MD, PA, OH.  

I immediately did think of US 1, and I like the US 13/US 17 mention too.

[jemacedo9]

US 9 is a good pick too...!

[agentsteel53]

40 is definitely a great choice.  Or, in general, the National Road, alignments of which were bypassed before the US-40 designation was applied in 1926.  there are bridges that date back to the 1830s, I believe.  For sure, the 1847-1849 suspension bridge in Wheeling, WV is still around.

for some even older stuff, let's go with the Post Road from New York to Boston, various alignments of which are US-1, US-20, and MA-62.  There are extant mileposts that date back the 1730s.

[NE2]

for some even older stuff, let's go with the Post Road from New York to Boston, various alignments of which are US-1, US-20, and MA-62.  There are extant mileposts that date back the 1730s.

I don't think Route 62 was ever part of any Boston-New York post road. Perhaps you mean 67?

[agentsteel53]

I had thought that there was an alignment of MA-62 that was called "Boston Post Road".  Is that a different road, coming from Albany perhaps?

[Stephane Dumas]

Another road could be the William Penn highway alias US-22 linking Newark, NJ to the Queen City (Cincinnati), replaced in part by I-78 in NJ and Eastern PA, I-71 in Southwest Ohio.

[NE2]

I had thought that there was an alignment of MA-62 that was called "Boston Post Road".  Is that a different road, coming from Albany perhaps?

Perhaps, or from Vermont, or from anywhere in that region. There's also a Boston Post Road in Amherst, New Hampshire.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_Post_Road_map.png seems to be a reasonable map of the New York-Boston routes.

Remember that a post road was simply the route that the post took, which could be shifted to serve towns not on the original route. I've seen a map that shows an additional route coming up through eastern Connecticut and then east to Providence.

Later the "Boston Post Road" was a semi-official auto trail, using an updated version of the southern route (hence using a bunch of turnpikes that had not existed when the route was first laid out). Through continuous changes, this has become US 1.


If anything, I'd probably say US 1, from DC to Boston at least, is certainly a contender. Those who delight at finding old alignments of Route 66 and its predecessor trails would positively delight at all the old alignments of old alignments of old alignments of old alignments of US 1.

It sounds like I'm putting together a modern-day National Old Trails Road (which seems to have become US 1, US 240, US 40, US 50, US 350, US 85, and US 66).

[ctsignguy]

US 6 > Cape Cod MA to Chicago

[NE2]

US 6 > Cape Cod MA to Chicago

Nope. The extension west from Pennsylvania to Chicago was over less-traveled highways to avoid a long overlap. Not as bad as US 62 but close.

[cjk374]

I second the vote for US 80!  I've lived on this road all my life and sit back and wonder what life was like before I-20's existence.  A couple of months ago, a friend and I were checking out an overpass over the KCS tracks just west of here.  It was built in 1949, replacing a grade crossing.  We later discovered that where we parked was the site of an old gas station.  The concrete fuel islands and concrete sign base (with studs still exposed) had trees growing thru/around them.  It was a fascinating discovery.

[iwishiwascanadian]

What about US 7 through the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut, the Berkshires of Massachusetts and through Vermont?...it might be too focused on New England though...

[agentsteel53]

What about US 7 through the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut, the Berkshires of Massachusetts and through Vermont?...it might be too focused on New England though...

for another similarly cool New England drive: US-5, especially in Vermont!

[nexus73]

Since US 66 was "America's Main Street", I like to think of US 1 as the East's equivalent.  Unlike 66, US 1 is still around to be enjoyed as a signed route!  How much fun would it be to drive from Key West to northernmost Maine when the East isn't being socked in by blizzards or blistered by 100 degree and 100% humidity days...LOL!

Oh heck, skip the East entirely and drive US 101 :-)

Rick

[NE2]

For me at least, one of the attractions of US 66 seems to be the diversity of terrain and road type. It goes from the relative flatness of the Midwest through the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona, and from third-generation almost-freeway bypasses to one-lane mountain roads. US 1, being on the fall line, lacks the mountains, and most alignments predate paved roads, meaning the construction isn't as diverse as it could be. US 40 really hasn't changed much from the National Road. US 30/Lincoln Highway similarly follows old turnpikes through the mountains. Perhaps the Dixie Highway would be a good cross-section of the later-developed areas of the East.

[Michael in Philly]

After Saturday's trip into Southside Virginia - and all of the great
pre-Interstate businesses we found, active and abandoned - I started to think
about the Old US 66 trip I did last spring. There are plenty of sites (motor
courts, restaurants, neon signs, small towns) and situations (bypassed by the
interstate, abandoned businesses, empty two and sometimes four lane roads)
similar to that of the revered "Mother Road".

So I have come up with five routes along with reasons for and against being the
East Coast version of Route 66.

US 1: The Backbone US Route of the East Coast - Travels through major cities
including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.
Parallels Interstates 85 and 95 for significant portions of the route. However,
runs as an independent route from Henderson, NC to Jacksonville, FL.

US 301: Bypassed and pretty much ignored by long distanced travelers by
Interstate 95 from Richmond/Petersburg, VA to south of Florence, SC. Roadside
America attraction; South of the Border. It wasn't a major route in the 40's or
50's. Traffic south to Florida went via US 1 or the Ocean Highway.

US 29: Major US Highway serving Washington, Charlotte, and Atlanta. Parallels
and is bypassed by Interstate 85 from Greensboro, NC to Tuskegee, AL.
Unfortunately, this route doesn't have the lore of a US 1 or Route 66.

Dixie Highway (Various US Routes): It was the main route to Florida from the
Midwest and dates from the Auto Trails Era. Much of the Dixie Highway became US
Routes that would in turn fall to nearby Interstates. The numerous branches of
the Dixie Highway makes it difficult to trace a specific route.

Ocean Highway (US 13/US 17): Created to help promote tourism along the coast,
the Ocean Highway was the closest to the coast of all N/S routes. Mainly serves
small towns, cities, and resort areas. For the most part untouched by an
Interstate.

So which of these five highways do you consider as the East Coast's "Route 66"?
Or do you have another highway in mind?

I have a poll up at seroads (Southeast Roads at Y!Groups) if you wish to vote:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seroads/polls

How about the Lincoln Highway?
Gettysburg, Breezewood, Amish Country, steep hills in central Pennsylvania, some of the East's best farmland....and that's just in Pennsylvania.

EDIT:  Someone already said this.  But I'm leaving it.
Might be interesting as well to drive US 20 from Boston to Cleveland some day.

[PAHighways]

US 30 shares the same early history in that both were major routes and both saw roadside attractions grow along with traffic.

US 111 because it shares a similar fate of both being supplanted by the Interstate System.

[Stephane Dumas]

What about US 7 through the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut, the Berkshires of Massachusetts and through Vermont?...it might be too focused on New England though...

for another similarly cool New England drive: US-5, especially in Vermont!

Add also US-3 in nothern New Hampshire where it end at the border near Chartierville, Québec.

[froggie]

Amongst my twitter contacts, one agrees with me on US 1, while another sugests US 11.

[hobsini2]

Having driven US 30 from Joliet IL to Pittsburgh in one trip, i vote for US 30.  Large stretches of Old 30 are still around and if 30 ever does become an interstate (say I-76), then 30 is exactly like 66.  Lots of small towns that get bypasses and still important enough to the backbone of the American Midwest.  It is scenic. It has history, most of it being the Lincoln Highway.

A second one I would nominate is US 41.  Think of the different phases that 41 takes as it travels from Miami to the UP.  And going through Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago and Milwaukee.  Just those 5 cities having such a different flavor of their own.