Old Lincoln Highway in Omaha

In 1913, the landscape of motor vehicle travel in the US was improved by a major development: the opening of the Lincoln Highway, running from coast to coast, connecting New York’s Times Square to San Francisco’s Lincoln Park.

The transcontinental highway spanned across numerous states, running for more than 3300 miles. It is still a major roadway today, and many routes have been altered and modernized over the years.

But in Nebraska, a three-mile stretch of the highway between Omaha and Elkhorn remains exactly as it was a century ago, formerly complete with the same bumps and waves lining the brick-paved road but now flat concrete. The section was paved with a lower layer of concrete and a top surface of bricks as part of a surface improvement project in 1920.

This sector no longer serves as a crucial road link but it is the longest remaining original brick-paved part of the country’s first coast-to-coast highway, and due to its significance, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

In recent times, markers and commemorative plaques have been been erected along the stretch and efforts have been made to keep it closed seasonally for its protection. A drive on the road is promoted as an experience of an era gone by.