As the Lincoln Highway was one of the earliest transcontinental highways for automobiles across the United States and was widely publicized since its inception, the route of the Lincoln Highway was determined not only by civil engineering considerations but also by politics. See throughout, but especially index entry "Lincoln Highway route controversy". In many regions, there was general consensus among those who had power or interest in influencing the route. But in a few regions the choice of route was a contentious topic during the 1920s. The highway took the following route:
New York
The very short Lincoln Highway section in New York went west from Times Square on 42nd Street to the Weehawken Ferry. It was realigned down Broadway from which it turned right and passed through the Holland Tunnel after it opened in 1927.
New Jersey
The original route of Lincoln Highway came off the New York Central Railroad's ferry at Weehawken Terminal and climbed the Palisades on Pershing Road. At the top it went west on 5th Street (now 49th Street) to the Hudson County Boulevard (now John F. Kennedy Boulevard) on which it travelled south to Communipaw Avenue in Jersey City. After the opening of the Holland Tunnel and part of the Route 1 Extension, the Lincoln Highway travelled along the upper level of what is known as State Highway to the Boulevard.
Veering west it crossed the Hackensack River via the Lincoln Highway Bridge and traveled on what is now U.S. Route 1-9 Truck through Kearny Point, where the road is still known as Lincoln Highway. Some sources indicate the Highway bypassing the corner of Hudson County Boulevard and Communipaw Avenue by passing through Lincoln Park, which had been the route of Newark Plank Road.
Crossing the Passaic River, the Highway entered the Ironbound district of Newark along Ferry Street and Market Street, now the eastbound side of a one-way pair with Raymond Boulevard. In downtown Newark at Four Corners, it turned south on Broad Street, at what was claimed to be the "third busiest traffic center in the United States". By 1924 this had been bypassed using Jackson and Lafayette Streets. From Broad Street, the Highway cut over to Frelinghuysen Avenue, possibly on Clinton Avenue or Poinier Street, or via Elizabeth Avenue and Meeker Avenue.
After construction of the Holland Tunnel the ferry portion was abandoned and traffic travelled over Bergen Hill to connect with Hudson Boulevard. A reroute in 1928 took the Lincoln Highway onto the new Route 1 Extension (now U.S. Route 1/9) from east of downtown Newark to North Avenue in Elizabeth, and west on North Avenue back to the old road. The Highway was also moved to the new Holland Tunnel and approach east of the Hudson County Boulevard (now Route 139). By then the U.S. Highway System was marked, and the Lincoln Highway was fading in importance.
From the corner of Frelinghuysen Avenue and Poinier Street in Newark to Brunswick Circle in Trenton, the Lincoln Highway followed today's Route 27 and U.S. Route 206. Many parts are still known as Lincoln Highway. The only changes have been the following: The original road may have followed Clinton Avenue to Elizabeth Avenue in Newark and North Broad Street in Elizabeth. Route 27 now has a one-way pair in Elizabeth. The northbound side, on Cherry Street, is the old Lincoln Highway. In 1919, the New Jersey State Highway Commission built a new road on the west side of the Pennsylvania Railroad (now the Northeast Corridor) from near the northeast of Dow Avenue between Colonia and Iselin to Cedar Street in Menlo Park, to avoid two railroad crossings. The old road is now Middlesex-Essex Turnpike and Thornall Street, on the east side of the tracks. A 1905 map shows the main road using Thornall Street all the way to its end at Evergreen Road and crossing the tracks there, with the road on the west side existing north to Cedar Street as a stub; this may have changed between then and 1919. However, until 1919, the main road used Colonia Boulevard, New Dover Road and Middlesex Avenue to get from Rahway to Green Street. Until 1919, the main road was what is now named Old Road, lying east of the current road north of Kingston. The old bridge over the Millstone River at Kingston still exists, south of the current bridge (built in 1969).
The Lincoln Highway entered Trenton along Brunswick Avenue, now northbound US 206 and BUS US 1. Until 1920 the Highway used the Calhoun Street Bridge over the Delaware River into Pennsylvania; a 1920 map indicates that it probably used Warren Street (now southbound US 206 and BUS US 1) and West State Street to reach the bridge. In 1920 the Highway was moved from the tolled Calhoun Street Bridge to the free Bridge Street Bridge. To get there it probably continued south on Warren Street, turning west on Bridge Street to the bridge. This path is now followed by southbound BUS US 1, with a realignment from Assunpink Creek to the bridge due to redevelopment.
In 1916, the Lincoln Highway was designated the following State Highway numbers: Route 1 (Later Renumbered to Route 25) from Elizabeth to New Brunswick Route 13 (Present Route 27) from New Brunswick to Trenton The Highway in Trenton, and in and north of Elizabeth, did not receive a number.
In 1927, the whole Lincoln Highway in New Jersey was assigned the number U.S. Route 1, though that number was soon moved to newer bypasses.
The Route 1 Extension, built in the late 1920s, was considered a bypass of the Lincoln Highway, but the old road has continued to be known as the Lincoln Highway, except possibly between Communipaw Avenue and Tonnelle Circle in Jersey City, where the name may have moved to the new road (now TRUCK US 1–9).
Pennsylvania The path of the Lincoln Highway was first laid out in September 1913; it was defined to run through Canton, Ohio, Beaver Falls, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Ligonier, Bedford, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, York, Lancaster and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. This bypassed Harrisburg to the south, and thus did not use the older main route across the state between Chambersburg and Lancaster. From Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, this incorporated a number of old turnpikes, some of which still collected tolls.
This original 1913 path of the Lincoln Highway continued east from Philadelphia, crossing the Delaware River to Camden, New Jersey on the Market Street Ferry. By 1915, Camden was dropped from the route, allowing the highway to cross the Delaware on a bridge at Trenton (initially the Calhoun Street Bridge, later the Bridge Street Bridge).
In 1924, the entire Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania was designated Pennsylvania Route 1. In late 1926 the route from West Virginia to Philadelphia (using the new route west of Pittsburgh) was assigned U.S. Route 30, while the rest of the Lincoln Highway and PA 1 became part of U.S. Route 1.
West Virginia
The Lincoln Highway did not enter West Virginia until 1927, when it was rerouted between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and East Liverpool, Ohio. The piece in West Virginia ran roughly along present U.S. Route 30, splitting onto the old route at Chester. There it turned southwest on Carolina Avenue (West Virginia Route 2) before turning northwest on 3rd Street, southwest on Virginia Avenue and north on 1st Street to cross the Ohio River into East Liverpool on the 1897 Chester Bridge. The only realignment before the bridge was demolished in 1970 was in 1938, when US 30 was moved to take Carolina Avenue directly to 1st Street after a new bridge opened over the railroad. Until the current US 30 was finished in 1977, US 30 continued along Carolina Avenue to the Newell Bridge in Newell.
Ohio
The routing through Ohio followed modern US Route 30 to Canton, then west on State Route 172 through Massillon to Dalton (where it rejoins US Route 30). West of Wooster it turns northwest on U.S. Route 250 to Ashland, then southwest on Clairmont Avenue which eventually becomes modern U.S. Route 42 to Mansfield. West Fourth Street to US Route 30 which it followed to Bucyrus (temporarily leaving US 30 to follow Mansfield Street and Lincoln Highway), then continued to Upper Sandusky (went through on Wyandot Avenue to County Route 330). It is a combination of US Route 30 and local roads (mainly former alignments of US 30) to the Indiana state line.
Indiana
The Lincoln Highway entered Indiana on current US Route 30 to Fort Wayne. It turned northwest on modern U.S. Route 33 to Elkhart. It turned west on Lincoln Way through South Bend to U.S. Route 20. It followed US Route 20 to Rolling Prairie and continued on State Road 2 to Valparaiso where it rejoined US Route 30 to the Illinois state line.
In time, the route was shortened, following U.S. Route 30 through the entire state. Many cities along U.S. 30, including Warsaw, Plymouth, Merrillville and Schererville contain stretches of the Lincoln Highway (usually marked as "Old Lincoln Highway", "Lincolnway", "Joliet St" or "Joliet Rd") while modern U.S. 30 runs just outside the cities.
Illinois The route through Illinois was chosen to deliberately avoid Chicago, instead providing "feeder routes" to the city. The main feeder routes included Illinois Route 1 at Chicago Heights, Illinois Route 4 (later U.S. Route 66) at Joliet, and Illinois Route 38 at Geneva.
The Lincoln Highway entered Illinois on U.S. Route 30, which it followed to Aurora where it became Illinois Route 31, which it followed to Illinois Route 38 at Geneva where it turned west to Dixon. From Dixon, it continued west on Illinois Route 2 to Sterling where it rejoins U.S. Route 30. It followed U.S. Route 30 to just east of the Iowa state line, where it turned slightly northwest of Illinois Route 136.
Lincoln Highway enters Illinois on the eastern border in Sauk Village, as Joliet Street in Dyer separates from being one Native American trail into two separate paths: the current route of Lincoln Highway turns north to cross Ford Heights and Chicago Heights at 14th Street, and the original route following Sauk Trail to South Chicago Heights before turning north on Chicago Road. Chicago Road in Chicago Heights is also Dixie Highway, leading to a major intersection of Carl Fisher's two major auto trails.
Continuing west, Lincoln Highway crosses Olympia Fields (211th Street), Matteson, Frankfort, and New Lenox (Maple Street) before its next major directional change in Joliet. In Joliet, Cass Street is the original path, but when several roads were redesigned as one-way streets, a loop was added to include Jefferson Street (US-52), Center Street and Collins Street (Archer Avenue, IL-171). Lincoln Highway also crosses Chicago Street, part of the alternate route of Route 66. After crossing the Des Plaines River, US30 travels northwest and is known as Plainfield Road. It crosses Crest Hill before entering Plainfield. The route originally changes direction to west on Lockport Street, through downtown Plainfield, then north on Wallin Drive, stepping north and west every few blocks towards Aurora. It presently follows Division Street north before a more direct diagonal path.
When originally designed, Lincoln Highway crossed the Fox River near downtown at Benton Street and Downer Place, following Lake Street (IL-31) to Geneva, where the road shifted to leave the Chicago area and extend west towards the Iowa border. Presently, Lincoln Highway never enters Aurora as it crosses Montgomery as Baseline Road. At the intersection of IL-47, it travels north to Sugar Grove before turning west towards the Iowa border.
Iowa
The Lincoln Highway entered Iowa on the Lyons-Fulton bridge, since torn down, north of the present-day Iowa Highway 136 bridge. It then went south on Second Street in Clinton along what is now U.S. Route 67. From there, it generally followed these present-day roads: U.S. Route 30 from Clinton to Lisbon, including some roads known today as "Old Highway 30"