Iowa may not be everybody’s idea of a vacation destination, but fans of old highways are in for a treat here: The state has some of the best-preserved remnants of the nation’s first cross-country route, the Lincoln Highway. Running between New York and San Francisco, the Lincoln Highway was the main transcontinental road from its opening in 1915 until 1927, when it was converted to the less-inspiring US-30, which, improvements notwithstanding, it still is today. Much of the original alignment survives, especially in small towns, and the old road makes a fascinating alternative across the state.
Thanks to its many dedicated devotees, the old route is well-marked all across Iowa—just keep an eye out for the red, white, and blue blazes, and the giant “L.” Two of the many evocative sites on the Lincoln Highway in Iowa are in the midsection, between Ames and Cedar Rapids. The city of Belle Plaine, for example, has hardly changed since its 1915 heyday, and in the town of Tama a historic bridge, with the words “Lincoln Highway” spelled out in the concrete guardrails, has been preserved as a riverside park, on 5th Street a block west of the US-30 bypass.
