Skip to main content

The Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails

By


The Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails are presently located at the eastbound truck parking area near Mile Marker 6 of Interstate 80 in Washoe County, Nevada.  These bridge rails were part of the Mogul Road culvert which was completed in 1914 as part of the Northern Branch of the Lincoln Highway.  The railings were intended to be a common feature of the Lincoln Highway but ultimately were only installed at one other location in Tama, Iowa.  During 1926 US Route 40 would be carried for a time through the Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails.  The bridge rails were abandoned during a realignment of US Route 40 during the 1930s but were ultimately salved during the construction of Interstate 80 in 1970. 




Part 1; the history of the Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails

During 1912 Indiana Businessman Carl G. Fisher conceptualized the Lincoln Highway as a major transcontinental Auto Trail.  The Lincoln Highway was formally dedicated on October 31, 1913, and was aligned west of Fallon via split branches over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  The original northern branch of the Lincoln Highway (displayed in blue) is shown on the Lincoln Highway Association's Official Map from Reno heading west to Verdi onwards to the Dog Valley Grade into California.



West of what is now Nevada State Route 647 (formerly US Route 40) the north branch of the Lincoln Highway followed Southern Pacific Railroad along Mogul Road through the namesake siding community.  


During 1914 a then new culvert bridge would be commissioned near Mogul along the Lincoln Highway.  Contractor A.F. Niedt paid for the culvert to have unique railings installed which read "Lincoln Highway."  The impetus for Niedt's decision to install the railings was Washoe County electing to delay signage of the Lincoln Highway in their jurisdiction.  

The Mogul culvert is often touted as the first bridge structure completed as part of the Lincoln Highway.  Lincoln Highway Association President H.E. Frederickson visited the structure shortly after it was complete in 1914.  Frederickson was impressed by the structure and desired to have all Lincoln Highway bridges modeled after the Mogul culvert.  Ultimately only one other like structure was ever built on the Lincoln Highway during 1915 in Tama, Iowa. 

H.E. Frederickson can be seen with Washoe County Commissioner J.O. Sessions at the Mogul culvert in a 1914 photo (courtesy Jim Bonar collection). 


During 1921 the Victory Highway would be multiplexed through Mogul with the north branch of the Lincoln Highway.  The US Route System was formally approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) on November 11, 1926.  The approval of the US Route System formally brought US Route 40 into existence which overlapped the north Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway west of Reno.  

US Route 40 west of Reno to the California state line would be realigned during the 1930s.  Segments of realigned highway would bypass structures which were part of the Lincoln Highway which included Mogul Road and the Mogul culvert.  The structure can be seen in a state of abandonment below (year unknown, courtesy Jim Bonar collection).


Amid construction of Interstate 80 in the Reno area the railings from the Mogul culvert were salvaged by the Nevada Department of Highways (now Nevada Department of Transportation).  The rails were relocated approximately 0.9 miles west to the eastbound Interstate 80 truck parking area.  



Part 2; a visit to the Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails

The Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails can be found onto eastbound Interstate 80 at the truck parking area near Mile Marker 6. 


A closer up look at the salvaged rails.  



The interpretative information sign regarding the Lincoln Highway Bridge Rails. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more