Dixie Highway

The Dixie Highway was a United States automobile highway first planned in 1914, to connect the US Midwest with the US South. It was part of the National Auto Trail system, and grew out of an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final result is better understood as a small network of interconnected paved roads, rather than a single highway. It was constructed and expanded from 1915 to 1927.

The Dixie highway was inspired by the example of the slightly earlier Lincoln Highway. The prime booster of the idea was promoter and businessman Carl G. Fisher. It was overseen by the Dixie Highway Association, and funded by a group of individuals, businesses, local, and state governments. In the early years the US Federal government played little role, but from the early 1920s on it provided increasing funding, until 1927 when the Dixie Highway Association was disbanded and the highway was taken over as part of United States highway system, with some portions becoming state roads.

The route of the Dixie Highway was marked by a red stripe with the letters "DH" on it, usually with a white stripe above and below. This was commonly painted on telephone and telegraph poles along the route.

Some locally built roads had the 'Dixie' name added, even though they may not have been part of the official highway; for example, the Cheney Highway east from Orlando, Florida became the Cheney Dixie Highway.

Routes

The Dixie Highway had two main routes, both starting in Miami, Florida in the south.

The eastern route parallelled the Atlantic Ocean north to Savannah, Georgia, then went inland through Augusta, Georgia, Greenville, South Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee, north through Lexington, Kentucky, Toledo, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and on to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, with an extension into Ontario, Canada.

The western route went inland through Orlando and Tallahassee, Florida, north through Atlanta, Georgia, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Indianapolis, Indiana to Chicago, Illinois.

The Dixie Highway also included a number of roads connecting the two branches, and numerous spurs.

By 1925 the Dixie Highway system had 5,786 miles of paved roads. In places it incorporated older local and county paved roads.

In rural areas, the paved portion was often just a single lane; when two vehicles needed to pass each other, one or both needed to pull partway onto the road's shoulder.

Much of the southern portion of the highway was paved with brick from Alabama.

Florida

The following State Road numbers were assigned to the Dixie Highway in 1923; for information about old alignments, see those pages:

West Mainline

• SR 27 from Miami to Fort Myers
• SR 5 from Ft. Myers to Punta Gorda
• SR 86 (assigned in 1927) from Punta Gorda to Arcadia
• SR 2 from Arcadia to High Springs
• SR 5A (assigned in 1925) from High Springs to Perry
• SR 19 from Perry to Tallahassee
• SR 10 from Tallahassee to Georgia

East Mainline

• SR 205 (assigned in 1931) from Flamingo to Florida City
• SR 4A (assigned in 1925) from Florida City to Miami
• SR 4 from Miami to Jacksonville
• SR 3 from Jacksonville to Georgia

South Florida Connector

• SR 18 from Arcadia to Lake Annie
• SR 8 from Lake Annie to Okeechobee
• SR 29 (assigned 1925) from Okeechobee to south of Okeechobee
• SR 194 (assigned 1931, formerly Conners Highway) from south of Okeechobee to Twenty Mile Bend
• SR 25 from Twenty Mile Bend to West Palm Beach

Central Florida Connector

• SR 24 from Kissimmee to Melbourne

East Florida Connector

• SR 3 from Orlando to East Palatka
• SR 14 from East Palatka to Hastings

North Florida Connector

• SR 1 from east of Tallahassee to Jacksonville

South Georgia Connector

• SR 4 from Jacksonville to Georgia

Tampa-St. Petersburg Loop

• SR 17 from Haines City to Dellwood
• SR 73 (assigned 1927 and 1931) from Dellwood to St. Petersburg
• SR 15 from St. Petersburg to Brooksville
• SR 5 from Brooksville to Juliette
• SR 16 from Juliette to Ocala

The Dixie Highway after the U.S. Highway system

The eastern route Dixie Highway mostly became U.S. Highway 25. In the late 20th century, the route was largely paralleled and in some sections replaced by Interstate 75, which starts in Miami, Florida and ends in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

The eastern portion from Jacksonville, Florida south was largely replaced with U.S. Highway 1.

The name "Dixie Highway" persists in various locations along its route where the main flow of long-distance traffic has been rerouted to more modern highways and the old Dixie Highway persists as a local road. In some South Florida cities, Dixie Highway (or sometimes Old Dixie Highway) parallels "Federal Highway" (US 1), sometimes just a block away. In some of these cities and towns, Dixie Highway is the north-south axis of the street numbering system, although its diagonal route (not quite straight north-south) makes it not quite the best choice for this use.

See also:

• National Auto Trail
• United States highway

External links

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• Dixie Highway on us-highways.com (http://www.us-highways.com/dixiehwy.htm)
• 1923 map of the Dixie Highway system (http://www.us-highways.com/tzimm/dhmap23.htm)
• What is the Dixie Highway? (http://www.sca-roadside.org/dixie/dixiehistory.HTM)