Parts of New York City’s Times Square, the real and symbolic eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, have been closed to traffic to make the busy crossroads more pedestiran friendly. Specifically, portions of Broadway between 42nd and 47th Streets have been closed to cars. The plan, partly inspired by the redevelopment of downtown Copenhagen, was conceived by the city’s transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says he will decide in December whether to transform the plazas into something more permanent. Click the image below to read more from The New York Times.
As the NYT reports, “So far the pedestrian mall in Times Square is marked by little more than a few wobbly tables and metal chairs. A row of orange barriers frames the mall’s northern edge, where a half-dozen police officers patiently redirect traffic heading down Broadway.”
UPDATE: The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports the 30 signs will be placed along the route by mid-June. Clikc the image to read more and see a photo of the unveiling.
Lincoln Highway route markers will be dedicated this morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana, at 11:30 a.m. Mayor Henry will dedicate the new markers at the Lincoln Highway Bridge — Harrison Street at the St. Mary’s River. The markers will allow motorists to follow the historic corridor through the city. Call (260) 427-1127 for details.
Click the map above to see it larger. Note that the exact original route can no longer be followed in parts, such as east of town near the cloverleaf.
Three Somerset County Technology Center students who designed and built a giant “Bicycle Built for Two” sculpture saw their creation installed on May 6, 2009, at the Second Time Around shop along the Lincoln Highway/US 30 near Jennerstown, Pennsylvania. The steel and iron sculpture — 17 feet high, 22 feet wide, and weighs 1,800 pounds — depicts a man and a woman on an antique bicycle. The project took eight months, including the design time. It is the second of five pieces of art to be installed as part of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor’s “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” project.
The [Somerset] Daily American writes that The Sprout Fund of the Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections initiative paid for the project.
“I love art and education,” said Olga Herbert, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. “The Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway project combined the two and involved the community.” Highland Tank and Manufacturing Co. assembled the sculpture and transported it to the site. Weyand Sign Co. installed it.
The sculpture sits on land belonging to Georgia and Vic Sheftic at the Second Time Around shop just west of the intersection of Route 219, near the shop’s beloved praying mantis — a giant itself!
The Roadside Giants were envisioned by Olga Herbert, executive director of the Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor. The sculptures were developed to draw attention to the historic roadway and provide a learning experience for high school students.
Set to be installed within a month is an oversized quarter with George Washington’s profile near the Down River Golf course east of Everett, a replica of a 1921 apple truck in Franklin County, and a Packard car in central Westmoreland County. A 1940s gas pump was installed in April in Ligonier Township.
LHA president Bob Dieterich reports that Clarksville Day was a huge success with between 2000 and 3000 attending the celebration. The ghost town along the Lincoln Highway in California is set to be redeveloped.
They had horse drawn wagons to transport people from one end of the highway through town to the other end as shown in a couple of the pictures. There was the Pony Express, Mormon Battalion, antique cars, a band playing bluegrass music all day, and the Mormons had a huge cannon they fired every half hour.
There won’t be any work on development there for two or three years, so we should be able to work in one or two more of these. The developer has promised to save the Lincoln Highway as a walking path through there.
Attendees to the 2009 LHA conference in South Bend, Indiana, are looking forward to meeting authors and artists on June 18th. If your work focuses on the Lincoln Highway or Dixie Highway, please contact Jan Shupert-Arick at (260) 452-8140 and ask to be part of the authors and artists celebration. There is no charge to participate — bring your books/artwork and a table covering. The public is also invited to meet the authors and artists.
The odometer on this blog just rolled 100,000 hits. Launched in October 2007, the purpose remains to keep readers and myself informed and entertained. For your enjoyment, here’s a view from Wyoming of Hostler’s General Store, and a Muffler Man-turned-Jack Hammer at the minor league Silver Cross Field between the original Lincoln Highway and the current eastbound routing (aka US 30) in Joliet, Illinois.
I hope these and the rest of the blog inspire you to hit the (two-lane) road and create your own road trip memories. And please send us some of your photos to post.
I managed to catch pink eye – ouch – so can’t type much but thought Lincoln Highway fans might be interested in seeing how ABC News weekend anchors are traveling Route 66 west (unexplainedly skipping Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas). Kate Snow and her sister drive the first two segments in a 1958 Ford Fairlane hardtop convertible (seen here at the former U-Drop Inn Cafe, Shamrock, Texas). Read the story HERE.
NOTE: ABC has disabled embedding. Below is the first segment from another source.
Here are the ABC links, including the second video: ONE and TWO.
The final two segments will feature the two male anchors heading further west.
Last weekend I drove mostly 2-lane roads to Norfolk, Virginia, and back to Pittsburgh, some 900 miles. At Breezewood, Pa., a couple long-time Lincoln Highway landmarks were out of business: the Family House Restaurant and adjacent Penn Aire Motel. I’ve stayed at the motel and it was fine but certainly on the familiar decline from 1950s fabulous to no-longer-AAA-rated. The restaurant seemed to thrive but Turnpike traffic was noticeably down this trip.
On a brighter note, the trip to Virginia included favorite roadside stops like Dinosaurland and some new ones in the Shenandoah Mountains. Flickr friend loungelistener cued me into a couple cool places on US 50 just west of Winchester, Virginia, including the curved-layout Hayfield Motel and the tiny Amherst Diner, where I had a nice breakfast.
While researching my Roadside Attractions book, I wanted to stop at Doumar’s Cones & Barbecue, opened 1934 in Norfolk and now I had the chance. Here’s 87-year-old Albert outside the cool carhop drive-in with his family’s 1905 waffle cone maker! Albert claims it was his Uncle Abe who invented the ice cream cone during the 1904 St. Louis Exposition.
Don’t forget that this Saturday, May 9, will be the last chance for the public to visit Clarksville, California, and one of the longest (and off-limits) sections of original Lincoln Highway between Sacramento and Carson City, Nevada.
As reported here earlier, the long-abandoned town of Clarksville, just outside of El Dorado Hills, California, is set to be cleared and developed in the next couple years. The property is now private land but the owner has agreed to open the site for the annual Clarksville Day historical celebration. About dozen structures remain from the town that, if not large, was once thriving. Cars will be able to drive the Lincoln Highway this one last day; click HERE for a full schedule of events.
Above, the Clarksville Region Historical Society crew, preparing the site for the festival, stands on the Lincoln Highway. Photo by Pat Thomsen, Secretary, CRHS.
Update: The local newspaper just did a preview story.
When Lincoln Highway Association pioneer Gregory Franzwa took ill, President Bob Dieterich wanted to honor him before he died. He says, “We didn’t make it in time, but my wife and I drove over to Utah last week to give this to Kathy [along with Jesse Petersen].” The photo below shows Jess and Bob giving the proclamation to Kathy (after all the tears stopped).
The proclamation establishes an annual “Gregory M. Franzwa Award” to be given to the organization or individual doing the most to promote the Association. Click HERE to see the full text. Also, a fund has been established in Greg’s name to be used for preservation projects. Contributions can be sent to Jesse Petersen, P.O. Box 1075, Tooele, UT 84074.
Click the map above for a full-size view of the Lincoln Highway.
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