Whatever Happened to the Dixie Highway?
The Good Roads movement, started in response to bicyclist's needs, then shifted to promoting longer, transcontinental roads.
The History of The Dixie Highway
The Dixie Highway was promoted heavily by Carl Graham Fisher. By 1925 it was over 5,706 miles long and stretched as far north as Ontario, Canada and reached as far south as Florida City, Florida.
The first thoughts of a highway to connect the Midwest and the south occurred in 1914. The organizational meeting for the Dixie Highway Association occurred on April 3, 1915 in Chattanooga, TN. The name was chosen to honor "Fifty Years of Peace" between the North and South.
In May 1915, the decision was made to have two mainlines; competition had been so keen between candidate cities which insured parallel routes and plans for a second northern end in Michigan. By June, cities were celebrating the new highway. In 1916, Michigan joined the Dixie Highway Association and the eastern leg was extended north into Canada. The roads comprising the east and west mainlines were complete by 1927, and the Dixie Highway Association disbanded.
When the U.S. Highway System was laid out in 1925 and 1926, an effort was made to keep some established routes on a single number. The Lincoln Highway became US 30. The National Pike became US 40.
The Dixie Highway did not lend itself to such numbering, with two mainlines and a number of connecting routes.
The route of the Dixie Highway was marked by a red stripe with the letters "DH" on it, usually with a white stripe above and below. This was commonly painted on telephone and telegraph poles along the route.
Old auto-trail signs for the Dixie Highway were replaced as the states adopted uniform sign standards.
The Dixie Highway today exists primarily on street signs. Local roads bear witness of a grand past as major interstate corridors.
Today, you could make a good case for calling I-75 the Modern Dixie Highway.
In general, this alignment comprises the following roads:
Eastern Division
U.S. Route 1, Miami, FL to Jacksonville, FL
U.S. Route 17, Jacksonville to Savannah, GA
State Route 21, State Route 24 and U.S. Route 25, Savannah to Augusta, GA
U.S. Route 25, Augusta to Newport, TN
U.S. Route 25W, Newport to Corbin, KY
U.S. Route 25 and former US 25, Corbin to Detroit, MI
Former U.S. Route 10, Detroit to Flint, MI
U.S. Route 23, Flint to Mackinaw City, MI
Former U.S. Route 2, St. Ignace, MI to Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Western Division
U.S. Route 41, Miami, FL to Punta Gorda, FL
U.S. Route 17, Punta Gorda to Orlando, FL
U.S. Route 441, Orlando to High Springs, FL
U.S. Route 27, High Springs to Tallahassee, FL
U.S. Route 319, Tallahassee to Thomasville, GA
U.S. Route 19, Thomasville to Americus, GA
State Route 49, Americus to Macon, GA
U.S. Route 41, Macon to Springfield, TN
U.S. Route 431, Springfield to Russellville, KY
U.S. Route 68, Russellville to Bowling Green, KY
U.S. Route 31W, Bowling Green to Louisville, KY
U.S. Route 150, Louisville to Paoli, IN
State Road 37, Paoli to Indianapolis, IN
U.S. Route 136, Indianapolis to Danville, IL
Illinois Route 1, Danville to Chicago
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