The path of the Lincoln Highway was first laid out in September 1913; it was defined to run through
Canton, Ohio;
Beaver,
Pittsburgh,
Greensburg,
Ligonier,
Bedford,
Chambersburg,
Gettysburg,
York,
Lancaster, and
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
Camden, New Jersey. This routing 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 several old
turnpikes, some of which still collected tolls: • Part of the
Harrisburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike, chartered in 1806, broken up in 1814 into separate turnpike companies, of which the following were included: • Greensburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike, Pittsburgh to Greensburg • Somerset and Greensburg Turnpike (renamed the Stoystown and Greensburg Turnpike in 1815), Greensburg to
Stoystown • Bedford and Somerset Turnpike (renamed the Bedford and Stoystown Turnpike in 1815), Stoystown to Bedford • Chambersburg and Bedford Turnpike, Bedford to Chambersburg • Chambersburg Turnpike, Chambersburg to
Cashtown • Part of the Gettysburg and Petersburg Turnpike, from Cashtown to Gettysburg • York and Gettysburg Turnpike, Gettysburg to York • Wrightsville Turnpike, York to
Wrightsville •
Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge, Wrightsville to
Columbia • Lancaster and Susquehanna Turnpike, Columbia to Lancaster •
Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, Lancaster to Philadelphia 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. Philadelphia marked the route from the ferry landing west on Market Street through downtown and onto Lancaster Avenue to the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike in early 1914. Camden was dropped from the route, allowing the highway to cross the Delaware River on a bridge at
Trenton, New Jersey (initially the
Calhoun Street Bridge, later the
Lower Trenton Bridge). In 1924, the entire Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania was designated
Pennsylvania Route 1 (
PA 1). In late 1926, the route from West Virginia to Philadelphia (using the new route west of Pittsburgh) was assigned US 30, while the rest of the Lincoln Highway and PA 1 became part of
US 1. The PA 1 designation was gone by 1929, but several branches from east to west—
PA 101,
PA 201, PA 301,
PA 401,
PA 501, and
PA 601—had been assigned by then. (PA 701 was assigned later as a branch of PA 101.)
Ohio to Downtown Pittsburgh As defined in 1913, the Lincoln Highway ran east-northeast from
Canton, Ohio, to
Alliance and east via
Salem, crossing into Pennsylvania just east of
East Palestine. From there, it continued southeasterly to
Beaver, crossing the
Beaver River there and heading south along its left bank to
Rochester and the
Ohio River's right bank to
Pittsburgh. 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 68).), running through Freedom on Third Avenue. The old road next to the Ohio River, Beaver Street, is still a yellow brick road but now used only by local traffic. though improved by 1930. By 1922 an official detour was recommended via East Palestine, Ohio, and Beaver, largely identical to the initial 1913 plan.
1927 route Work began in the mid-1920s on a new route to the south of the existing route, passing through
West Virginia and bypassing the problematic sections on both sides of Rochester; the Lincoln Highway was moved to it December 2, 1927. The new Lincoln Highway bypassed
Imperial on a bypass built for it. It made its way through downtown to Bigelow Boulevard (now
PA 380), using Water Street, Liberty Avenue, and Oliver Avenue. It continued to follow present PA 380 onto Craig Street and
Baum Boulevard to
East Liberty. The highway left East Liberty and Pittsburgh on Penn Avenue, the old Pittsburgh and Greensburg Turnpike, also now part of PA 380, and further east part of
PA 8. (PA 380, however, bypasses the center of East Liberty.) By 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. Leaving the Pittsburgh area, the Lincoln Highway turned onto Ardmore Boulevard (now signed as PA 8 north of I-376, and US 30 south of I-376). It then branched away from Ardmore Boulevard along Electric Avenue, turned northeast on Braddock Avenue, and then east on Penn Avenue. The Lincoln Highway originally continued onto Airbrake Avenue and then turned south at 11th Street to cross
Turtle Creek and the
Pennsylvania Railroad main line over a bridge; a 1925 replacement bridge starts at the intersection of Airbrake Avenue, Penn Avenue, Monroeville Avenue, and Greensburg Pike. The Lincoln Highway then followed Greensburg Pike up to current US 30. In 1932, a bypass of the grades into and out of Turtle Creek, including the
George Westinghouse Bridge, was opened. It runs along current US 30 from the interchange with Electric Avenue in
Chalfant to the intersection with Greensburg Pike in
North Versailles Township.
White Oak named their main street Lincoln Way in an attempt to convince the LHA to use it, but instead the highway continued along Greensburg Pike through North Versailles Township.
Later history The Penn-Lincoln Parkway was built from 1953 to 1962 as a freeway bypass across the Pittsburgh area for both the Lincoln Highway (US 30) and the
William Penn Highway (US 22). In 1953, the portion of present-day US 30 between PA 283 in Lancaster and PA 462 east of Lancaster was built as a freeway alignment of
US 230. In 1967, US 30 was shifted to a freeway bypass between Prospect Road east of Columbia and east of Lancaster; the route replaced the US 230 designation between the present-day PA 283 and PA 462 interchanges. PA 462 was designated onto the former alignment of US 30 between those two points. In 1963, the Coatesville Downingtown Bypass, a freeway
bypass route of US 30, was completed. The bypass begins east of the intersection with PA 10 and terminates east of Downingtown in East Caln Township. Upon completion of the bypass, US 30 Bus. was designated onto the former alignment of US 30. Shortly after the completion of the bypass, plans were made to extend the new bypass further east to the US 202 interchange with US 30. However, due to significant delays caused by environmental concerns and funding issues, construction did not begin until 1993. The Exton Bypass was completed in December 1995 and was connected to the existing Coatesville Downingtown Bypass, allowing for a continuous freeway alignment of US 30 from PA 10 to US 202. US 30 Bus. was also extended east through Exton along the former alignment of US 30 to its current eastern terminus following the completion of the bypass. The Exton Bypass also provided significant relief to the Exton area, as the intersection of the former US 30 alignment (now US 30 Bus.) and PA 100 was the source of major congestion throughout the area. From 1997 to 2004, significant construction was completed on the US 30 bypass around Lancaster. A bypass of the section of US 30 in Gap, in Lancaster County, was first proposed in February 2012. In 2015, a
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation project began to build a bypass to the north of Gap for westbound US 30 between the PA 772 and PA 41 intersections to improve traffic flow and safety at the congested intersection of US 30 and PA 41. The bypass, which cost $10 million (equivalent to $ in ), was opened on August 4, 2016. On April 7, 2018, a section of US 30 in East Pittsburgh sank down a hill after a landslide. One apartment building was destroyed, and another was threatened and ultimately demolished. The damaged road section reopened in late June 2018. There are plans to improve the US 30 freeway, bypassing Coatesville and Downingtown in Chester County. The project is split into a western section between PA 10 near Parkesburg and PA 82 in Coatesville and an eastern section between Reeceville Road near Coatesville and US 30 Business east of Downingtown. The western section will remain four lanes wide, with construction planned to begin in 2026. The eastern section is planned to be widened to six lanes, with construction beginning as early as 2028. In addition to improvements made to the freeway, interchanges will also be improved. Construction of the western section is projected to cost $355 million while the eastern section is projected to cost $460 million. ==Major intersections==