U.S. Route 30 in Pennsylvania

By 1915, the highway had been realigned to the route it would follow until the end of 1927. It ran east from Canton, Ohio to Lisbon and then southeast to East Liverpool on the Ohio River. After crossing into Pennsylvania, it turned north away from the river at Smiths Ferry, taking an inland route to Beaver, where it rejoined the Ohio River. It crossed the Beaver River into Rochester, joining the 1913 alignment, and turned south with the Ohio to Pittsburgh.

This route entered Pennsylvania along PA Route 68. After crossing Little Beaver Creek, it turned south on Main Street, passing under the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad (PRR) into Glasgow. After passing through that community on Liberty Street, the highway turned north and passed under the railroad again at Smiths Ferry, merging with Smiths Ferry Road. This alignment through Glasgow carried the Lincoln Highway until ca. 1926, when the present PA 68 was built on the north side of the railroad.National Bridge Inventory

The Lincoln Highway left the banks of the Ohio River on Smiths Ferry Road, which includes an old stone bridge over Upper Dry Run. It turned east on Tuscarawas Road through Ohioville, entering Beaver on Fourth Street and turning south on Buffalo Street to reach Third Street (PA Route 68). By 1929 this inland Glasgow-Beaver route was numbered PA Route 168, while the route along the river - never followed by the Lincoln Highway - was PA 68.Pennsylvania Department of Highways, [1929 map of western Pennsylvania]

Where PA 68 - Third Street - crosses the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad from Beaver into Bridgewater, soon crossing the Beaver River on the ca. 1963 Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge, the Lincoln Highway instead ran along Bridge Street, just to the north, and crossed the Old Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge into Rochester.

From Rochester to Pittsburgh, the pre-December 1927 Lincoln Highway generally parallels the ca. 1930 Ohio River Boulevard (PA Route 65). Outside Allegheny County, present PA 65 was PA Route 837 by 1929. However, during the time that the Lincoln Highway ran through Rochester, the Rochester-Pittsburgh segment was locally maintained. It was often foggy, and a July 1926 Lincoln Highway Association road report states that it was "paved city streets, mostly poor", in stark contrast to the good paving east of Pittsburgh. By 1924, reports recommended following an alternate on the other side of the river between Pittsburgh and Rochester.

The route west of Rochester had similar problems; it was a dirt road, despite being a state highway.[1911 state map] PDF By 1922 an official detour was recommended via Beaver Falls and East Palestine, Ohio, largely identical to the initial 1913 plan. Work began in the mid-1920s on a new route to the south, passing through West Virginia and bypassing the problematic sections on both sides of Rochester; the Lincoln Highway was moved to it December 2, 1927.

Continuing through Rochester to Pittsburgh, the Lincoln Highway left the Old Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge on Madison Street, turning onto Brighton Avenue, and then crossing the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway (PRR) on New York Avenue. After running alongside the Ohio River on Railroad Avenue, the highway crossed the railroad again in Freedom (about a block north of Third Street[1904 USGS Beaver quadrangle]), running through Freedom on Third Avenue.

West Virginia to Pittsburgh: 1927-present

Through Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh to Philadelphia

Through Philadelphia

Old sections to be cleaned up

New Jersey through Philadelphia

• Byberry and Bensalem Turnpike, Oakford (Neshaminy Creek) to Philadelphia

Lincoln Highway in Bucks County in 1922. This is now looking west on Woolston Drive with a ramp to the U.S. Route 1 freeway ahead; the underpass under the Trenton Cutoff is to the left.

At Fallsington, the original road crossed the Pennsylvania Railroad's Trenton Cutoff on a bridge just east of the present bridge, built on a reverse curve to shorten the span. It used Trenton Road and Main Street from the bridge to the intersection with Woolston, where Main Street is now cut. In 1917, an underpass under the railroad was built to the west on Woolston Drive; this became the main route by 1924.Lincoln Highway Association, [Eastern Pennsylvania map], 1924

From Fallsington the route used what is presently known as Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 1 Business), splitting onto Maple Avenue (Route 213) to pass through Langhorne. From there Old Lincoln Highway heads southwest; it no longer crosses SEPTA's R3 West Trenton line, but its replacement - the U.S. Route 1 freeway - crosses just to the east.

The present route of Lincoln Highway and US 1 Business was built in 1923, bypassing Langhorne to the south and avoiding two railroad crossings. This crosses under the US 1 freeway just south of the railroad, where the older route had crossed the railroad. It curves southwest to become Old Lincoln Highway and crosses Neshaminy Creek as a one-way southbound bridge, becoming two-way at Bristol Road. (This bridge itself was built in 1921 to replace a covered bridge just to the west.) After crossing Street Road it heads south and is gated at an 1805 stone bridge across Poquessing Creek at the Philadelphia city line, just after crossing Roosevelt Boulevard. The old alignment continues through the woods, closed to traffic, paralleling power lines to near Hornig Road, after which it was upgraded on the spot to become Roosevelt Boulevard.

Closer to downtown, the old alignment splits from Roosevelt Boulevard at Haldeman Avenue and then follows Bustleton Avenue. (A short piece of Old Bustleton Avenue southwest of Welsh Road was used, crossing Pennypack Creek east of the current bridge.) By 1914, Roosevelt Boulevard was completed to Rhawn Street, so the Lincoln Highway turned off Bustleton Avenue there to reach the Boulevard. It then turned south on Broad Street to downtown, turning west at Penn Square onto [Market Street to reach Lancaster Avenue and the Lancaster Turnpike. (Prior to the building of Roosevelt Boulevard, the main road followed Bustleton Avenue to Frankford Avenue to reach downtown.)

A 1920 extension took the Boulevard to Welsh Road, allowing traffic to turn off Bustleton Avenue there (that route is still Route 532), and a 192 extension took it to the intersection with Old Lincoln Highway just north of the Poquessing Creek bridge. North of there the present US 1 was completed in 1933 to the south end of the 1923 Langhorne bypass and in 1938 to Bellevue Avenue (Route 413) in downtown Langhorne.

A bypass was added around downtown Philadelphia (in addition to the downtown route) in 1924, using Hunting Park Avenue, Ridge Avenue and City Avenue.Lincoln Highway Resource Guide, [Chapter 6 - The Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania] (PDF) This alignment is now used by U.S. Route 1, except that Hunting Park and Ridge Avenues are now bypassed by the Roosevelt Expressway and Schuylkill Expressway.

Philadelphia to Lancaster

Lancaster to Pittsburgh

Through Pittsburgh to Ohio and West Virginia

In North Versailles, the Lincoln Highway and old turnpike left current US 30 onto the road named Greensburg Pike, heading downhill into Turtle Creek. The original bridge over Turtle Creek and the Pennsylvania Railroad main line curved right and ran to Airbrake Avenue west of 11th Street; a 1925 replacement continued straight to meet Airbrake Avenue at Monroeville Avenue.Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA, [Greensburg Pike over Turtle Creek] The alignment continued west on Penn Avenue, turning south at Braddock Avenue. (The old turnpike left the Lincoln Highway there, cutting southwest to cross the railroad at McDonald Street, and then heading northwest along Penn Avenue Extension and Greensburg Pike.) After a short while on Braddock Avenue, the Lincoln Highway turned northwest on Electric Avenue, which becomes Ardmore Boulevard to Wilkinsburg. The George Westinghouse Bridge opened in 1932 as a bypass of the grades into and out of Turtle Creek, running from the Greensburg Pike in North Versailles to Ardmore Boulevard in Chalfant.

The Lincoln Highway joined the William Penn Highway and rejoined the Greensburg Turnpike at Penn Avenue in Wilkinsburg. After entering Pittsburgh and crossing the Pennsylvania Railroad main line, it turned west on Baum Boulevard, following present Route 380 onto Craig Street and Bigelow Boulevard to downtown.

The Boulevard of the Allies opened east from downtown Pittsburgh in 1920, and in 1924 it was designated as an alternate route.Lincoln Highway Resource Guide, [Appendix A - Lincoln Highway Chronology] (PDF) At least in 1930, this bypass ran along the Boulevard of the Allies, Forbes Avenue, Beeler Street, Wilkins Avenue and Dallas Avenue, rejoining the Lincoln Highway at Penn Avenue, west of Wilkinsburg.[1930 Pennsylvania Transportation Map, back side] (PDF)

The Lincoln Highway left the north side of Pittsburgh along California Avenue, passing high above Woods Run and Jack's Run. These bridges had been built for a streetcar line, and were replaced by wider concrete arch bridges in 1928 and 1924, respectively.Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA, [California Av over Woods Run] After crossing Jack's Run, the Lincoln Highway passed through Bellevue on Lincoln Avenue, coincidentally named after Lincoln soon after the U.S. Civil War.Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County and Pittsburgh, PA, [California Av over Jacks Run]

The California Avenue name returned through Avalon. Somewhere in or near Emsworth it joined the current Ohio River Boulevard (Route 65).

After passing through Rochester and Beaver, the Lincoln Highway ran along Tuscarawas Road and Smiths Ferry Road (once part of Route 168) through hilly terrain to the Ohio River at Glasgow, where it continued west next to the river into Ohio.

Due to the bad condition of the Lisbon Road, a temporary detour from Rochester, Pennsylvania to Canton, Ohio via Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and Alliance, Ohio was established in 1924. In 1927 a new permanent alignment opened between Pittsburgh and East Liverpool, Ohio, taking the Lincoln Highway across the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia for the first time. This alignment is approximated by present Route 60 and U.S. Route 30.

From 1948 to 1960, the Penn-Lincoln Parkway East and Penn-Lincoln Parkway West were built to replace both the Lincoln Highway and William Penn Highway through Pittsburgh with a freeway. U.S. Route 30 (Lincoln Highway) and U.S. Route 22 (Penn Highway) were rerouted to use the new Parkways.

References