Existed: 1926 – present Length 4,946 km | West end: US 101 in Astoria, OR Constructed 1926 | |
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East end: Virginia Avenue in Atlantic City, NJ States: Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey | ||
U.S. Route 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route of the system of United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. It is the third longest U.S. route, after U.S. Route 20 and U.S. Route 6. The western end of the highway is at Astoria, Oregon; the eastern end is in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Despite long stretches of parallel and concurrent Interstate Highways, it has managed to avoid the decommissioning that has happened to other long haul routes such as U.S. Route 66.
Contents
- Map of US 30 United States
- Oregon
- Idaho
- Wyoming
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Ohio
- West Virginia
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- History
- Major intersections
- References
Map of US-30, United States
Much of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first road across America (from New York City to San Francisco), became part of US 30; it is still known by that name in many areas.
Oregon
The west end of US 30 is at an intersection with U.S. Route 101 at the south end of the Astoria–Megler Bridge in downtown Astoria, Oregon, approximately 5 miles (8 km) from the Pacific Ocean. It heads east to Portland, where it uses a short section of freeway built for the canceled Interstate 505. From there it heads around the north side of downtown on Interstate 405 and Interstate 5 to reach Interstate 84. Most of the rest of the route is concurrent with I-84, with only about 70 miles (110 km), under 1/5 of its remaining length, off the freeway, mainly on old alignments.
Idaho
Upon entering Idaho, US 30 runs along its old surface route through Fruitland and New Plymouth before joining I-84. It leaves at Bliss and soon crosses the Snake River, running south of it through Twin Falls and Burley before crossing it again and rejoining I-84. At the split with Interstate 86, US 30 continues east with I-86 almost to its end at Pocatello. US 30 cuts southeast through downtown Pocatello to Interstate 15, where it heads south to McCammon. There it exits and heads east and southeast, not parallel to an Interstate for the first time since Portland, into Wyoming.
The Thousand Springs Scenic Byway is a picturesque section of old US 30 in southern Idaho between the towns of Bliss and Buhl, dipping down into the Hagerman Valley and a canyon of the Snake River. The byway takes its name from the numerous streams and rivulets springing forth out of the east wall of that canyon, many of them plainly visible from the road, with the panoramic river in the foreground. These springs are outlets from the Snake River Aquifer, which flows through thousands of square miles of porous volcanic rock and is one of the largest groundwater systems in the world. The aquifer is believed to be fed by the Lost River which disappears into lava flows near Arco, about 90 miles (140 km) northeast of Hagerman.
Wyoming
In Wyoming, US 30 heads southeast through Kemmerer to Granger, where it joins Interstate 80 across southern Wyoming. It is also here that it joins the historic Lincoln Highway. As in the previous two states, US 30 remains with the Interstate for most of its path, only leaving for the old route in the following places:
Nebraska
Unlike the three states to the west, Nebraska keeps US 30 completely separate from its parallel Interstates (Interstate 80 in this case). From the state line to Grand Island, US 30 closely parallels I-80. East of Grand Island, US 30 diverges from I-80 and runs northeast towards Columbus on a highway parallel to the Platte River. At Columbus, it turns east towards Schuyler and Fremont and crosses the Missouri River into Iowa east of Blair.
Iowa
US 30 crosses Iowa from west to east approximately 20 miles (32 km) north of Interstate 80. Between Missouri Valley and Denison, the highway runs in a southwest-to-northeast direction. Several freeway bypasses have been built around the major cities on US 30 - Ames, Marshalltown, Tama, Cedar Rapids and DeWitt. It crosses the Mississippi River into Illinois on the Gateway Bridge at Clinton.
U.S. Route 30S and U.S. Route 30A are two previous alternate alignments of U.S. Route 30 in Iowa. They followed the original alignment of US 30 in Iowa. They both began in Nebraska, entered Iowa in Council Bluffs, and extended north to Missouri Valley via Crescent to meet the current highway.
Illinois
US 30 heads east in Illinois to Rock Falls, where it begins to parallel Interstate 88. At Aurora it turns southeast to Joliet, where it is a major thoroughfare in the city of Joliet (Plainfield Road), and then back east through New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Matteson, Chicago Heights, Ford Heights, and Lynwood to the Indiana state line, bypassing Chicago to the south. The original 1926 routing of US 30 ran directly through downtown Chicago, however.
Indiana
US 30 in Indiana is a major rural divided highway. It is not a freeway except at Fort Wayne, where it runs around the north side on Interstate 69 and Interstate 469. Between I-65 (at Merrillville) and I-69 (Fort Wayne), there are over 40 traffic signals on this divided highway, hindering smooth traffic flow. Many of these signals are concentrated between Hobart and Valparaiso, the two cities being about 20 miles apart. It is, however, a four lane divided road through its entirety within Indiana, generally avoiding small towns. Speed limits range, but are generally 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).
Ohio
US 30 heads east across northern Ohio via Mansfield and Canton. After several upgrades, it is now a four-lane divided highway from the Indiana state line to Canton with controlled-access freeway sections between Van Wert and Delphos, Bucyrus and Canton, Ohio. At Upper Sandusky, the highway runs concurrent with US 23. After Canton, the road continues on to East Liverpool primarily as two-lane highway (until, near the unincorporated community of West Point, it joins southbound OH 11).
West Virginia
US 30 spends only about 4 miles (6.4 km) in West Virginia. It crosses the Ohio River over the Jennings Randolph Bridge, continuing the freeway from the Ohio section. After cutting through the town of Chester with only one interchange, WV 2 (Carolina Avenue), the freeway section ends not too long after. US 30 continues across the northernmost piece of the Northern Panhandle on a two-lane road.
Pennsylvania
US 30 heads southeast into Pennsylvania, joining U.S. Route 22 and then the Penn-Lincoln Parkway West west of Pittsburgh. It heads through downtown Pittsburgh on Interstate 376/US 22, leaving at Wilkinsburg for its own alignment. From there it roughly parallels the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Interstate 76) to the Philadelphia area, though in many areas, particularly from York past Lancaster, and bypassing Coatesville, Downingtown, and Exton, it is far enough for its own freeway. As it approaches Philadelphia, US 30 constitutes the main road of the "Main Line", a famous string of affluent suburbs west of the city; often called Lancaster Ave. and Lancaster Pike through this stretch. US 30 then briefly joins I-76 near downtown Philadelphia, splitting onto Interstate 676 to cross the Delaware River on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.
New Jersey
US 30 splits from I-676 just east of the Ben Franklin Bridge toll plaza in Camden and heads southeast to Atlantic City, generally parallel to the Atlantic City Expressway, passing through the New Jersey Pine Barrens. For most of its New Jersey run, it is known as the White Horse Pike. It ends in Atlantic City at the intersection of Absecon Boulevard (US 30) and Virginia Avenue, about one mile (1.5 km) from the Atlantic Ocean.
History
US 30 ran from Salt Lake City, Utah to Atlantic City, New Jersey. West of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this was designated largely along the Lincoln Highway, as part of a promise to the Lincoln Highway Association to assign a single number to their road as much as possible. West of Salt Lake City, U.S. Route 40 continued to San Francisco, California, although it ran farther north than the Lincoln Highway east of Wadsworth, Nevada and west of Sacramento, California.
Around 1931, a split in Ohio was designated, from Delphos east to Mansfield. The original US 30 was assigned U.S. Route 30S, and a straighter route became U.S. Route 30N. US 30S was eliminated ca 1975, putting US 30 on former US 30N.
US 30 was rerouted ca 1931 to bypass Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa to the north. The former route, from Fremont, Nebraska to Missouri Valley, Iowa, was designated U.S. Route 30S. Around 1934 it was truncated to Omaha and c. 1939 it was changed from US 30S to US 30A and was removed from service in 1969 when the historic Douglas Street bridge was demolished.
Metropolitan Portland has a signed US 30 "Bypass", beginning at the St. John's bridge, following (roughly) Lombard Street in North Portland, continuing along Sandy Blvd., and rejoining the I-84/US-30 route in the center of the town of Wood Village. Junctions with I-5, US-30 at the St. John's bridge, and I-205 are all signed with "US-30 BYPASS" markers. Portland also had a U.S. 30 Business route along N.E. Sandy Boulevard, however the route was decommissioned in 2007.
Wyoming had requested ending US 30 in Salt Lake City, but Idaho and Oregon objected. What is now US 30 through those states (west of Burley, Idaho) had been designated as part of U.S. Route 20, another transcontinental route, but it took a detour to the north through Yellowstone National Park, making it inaccessible during the winter season. The states agreed to take US 30 along that route, splitting from the route to Salt Lake City at Granger, Wyoming and running along what had been designated as U.S. Route 530. (That number was then reused for the spur towards Salt Lake City.) The planned US 530 had ended at U.S. Route 91 at McCammon, Idaho, where the new US 30 turned north to Pocatello, meeting the planned US 20. (US 20 was truncated to Yellowstone but later extended along its own route to the Pacific Ocean.) What had been designated as U.S. Route 630, from US 30 at Echo, Utah to Ogden, was to be extended east on former US 30 to US 30 at Granger and northwest on US 91 and what had been designated U.S. Route 191 to US 30 at Burley.
Utah objected to that plan, however, as it removed US 30 from that state, giving them only US 630, a branch. A compromise was reached, in which the US 630 route would become the main line of US 30, once improved to higher standards, but that was still not deemed completely satisfactory. Ultimately, in the final system, a split was approved between Burley, Idaho and Granger, Wyoming, with U.S. Route 30N running along what was to be US 30, and U.S. Route 30S taking the route through Utah (planned as US 630). In the final plan (dated November 11, 1926), the route towards Salt Lake City became U.S. Route 530, ending at U.S. Route 40 at Kimball Junction, Utah.
In 2011, Google Maps mislabeled the entire length of US 30 as being concurrent with Quebec Route 366.
Major intersections
I-88 / IL 110 (CKC) southeast of Rock Falls US 52 north of Amboy I‑39 / US 51 southwest of Lee US 34 in Oswego. The highways travel concurrently to Montgomery. I‑55 in Joliet US 6 in Joliet. The highways travel concurrently through the city. I‑80 in New Lenox US 45 in Frankfort I‑57 in Matteson
I‑376 in Robinson Township. The highways travel concurrently to Wilkinsburg. I‑79 southwest of Pennsbury Village US 19 in Pittsburgh. The highways travel concurrently approximately 1 mile (1.6 km). I‑279 in Pittsburgh
I‑76 in North Huntingdon Township US 119 in Southwest Greensburg US 219 in Jenner Township Future I‑99 / US 220 in Bedford Township I‑70 in Breezewood. The highways travel concurrently through the town. US 522 in Todd Township US 11 in Chambersburg I‑81 in Chambersburg US 15 in Straban Township I‑83 in Manchester Township US 222 in Manheim Township. The highways travel concurrently through the township. US 322 in Caln Township US 202 in West Whiteland Township I‑476 in Radnor Township US 1 on the Lower Merion Township–Philadelphia line
I‑76 in Philadelphia. The highways travel concurrently through the city.
I‑76 / I‑676 in Philadelphia. I-676/US 30 travel concurrently to Camden, New Jersey. I‑95 in Philadelphia