BRI has some unique links to the Lincoln Highway and US 40

By 1910 there were already more than 450,000 registered automobiles in the United States, and yet the country still lacked a public road system.

In 1913 Carl Fisher – the man who built the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909 – and several other automobile industry leaders chartered the Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) for the purpose of defining a direct coast-to-coast automobile route.

The LHA's first official act was to delineate a 3,389-mile, 12-state continuous route from New York to California – one that would be passable before the opening of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Although not perfect, the throughway was ready as promised, and a motion picture of America's transcontinental highway was shown at the exposition.

Highway expansions
Over time the LHA improved road realignments and published guidebooks. Automobile touring had never been so good. The moving of a military convoy over the "Lincolnway" in 1919 demonstrated the utility of an integrated highway system for national defense and interstate commerce.

With the passing of the 1921 Federal Highway Act funds became available for states to construct and maintain connecting arteries. Four years later the United States adopted a highway numbering system and most of the Lincoln route became US 30, 40 and 50.

In subsequent years Boy Scout troops placed over 3,000 concrete "Lincoln Highway" markers along the route in all 12 states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. Many of these markers still exist, and new signs are being erected on other portions of the remaining right-of-way. San Francisco's Lincoln Park marks the western terminus of the Lincoln Highway.

Unique links to U.S. 40
BRI and its 50 employees are located in offices at 4400 Auburn Boulevard, Sacramento, California. Auburn Boulevard marks the original right-of-way of the Lincoln Highway – later US 40, and now "Historic US 40" – through the north Sacramento area.

Coincidentally, BRI is actively involved in securing the rights-of-way needed for the roadways, interchanges and utility corridors required to accommodate the needs of California motorists in the 21st century. It seems fitting that our offices should be located on the Lincoln Highway.

By Stephen Rosenthal