07 October 2011

Lincoln Highway Gains Byway Designation



Within a month of the Michigan Road becoming Indiana's newest state byway, the Lincoln Highway across northern Indiana was officially designated by the Lt. Governor on October 3rd. The Lincoln Highway, which was the brain child of Indianapolis Speedway founder Carl Fisher, first traversed the state from Ft. Wayne to Dyer in 1913 by way of South Bend (blue line). By 1927 motorists were asking for a more direct route so in 1928 a new alignment was marked between Ft. Wayne and Valparaiso by way of Plymouth (red line).

While the Michigan Road can capitalize on the state's early history, the Lincoln Highway can capitalize on the early 20th century's newly found fascination with auto travel. Both byways mean heritage tourism to the northern part of the state through a venue southern Indiana has been using for decades. The cities who are doubly blessed are New Carlisle, South Bend, and Plymouth due to having BOTH byways run through them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

the question now is will local government and merchants take advantage of two by-ways crossing in river city and the potential tourism dollars that will follow if capitalized on? would you like to bet a coke on it?

hoosier reborn said...

It's kind of like the old adage...you can lead a horse to water, but....

but in this case the horse is so lazy we brought the water to him, and he still won't drink. He's happy and content to just rot away.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed that other nearby communities while not booming do seem to have some initiative. Why is river city mired down?

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