U.S. Route 30


U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 is an east-west main route in the system of the United States Numbered Highways, with the highway traveling across the northern tier of the country. With a length of, it is the third longest U.S. highway, after U.S. Route 20 and U.S. Route 6. The western end of the highway is at US 101 in Astoria, Oregon; the eastern end is at Virginia Avenue, Absecon Boulevard, and Adriatic Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Despite long stretches of parallel and concurrent Interstate Highways, it has not been decommissioned unlike other long haul routes such as U.S. Route 66.
The "0" as the last number in the digit indicates that it is a coast-to-coast route and a major east-west route. Much of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, became part of US 30; it is still known by that name in many areas.
US 30 and US 20 break the general U.S. Route numbering guidelines in Oregon, since US 20 actually starts south of US 30 in Newport, Oregon and US 30 runs parallel to the north throughout the state. The two run concurrently and continue in the correct positioning near Caldwell, Idaho. This is because US 20 was not a planned coast-to-coast route while US 30 was. US 20 originally ended at the eastern entrance of Yellowstone National Park; it was extended in 1940.

Route description

Oregon

The western terminus of US 30 is at an intersection with U.S. Route 101 at the southern end of the Astoria–Megler Bridge in downtown Astoria, Oregon, approximately from the Pacific Ocean. It heads east to Portland, where it uses a short section of freeway built for the canceled Interstate 505. From there it heads around the north side of downtown on Interstate 405 and Interstate 5 to reach Interstate 84 (I‑84(. Most of the rest of the route is concurrent with I‑84, with only about, under 1/5 of its remaining length, off the freeway, mainly on old alignments.

Idaho

Upon entering Idaho, US 30 runs along its old surface route through Fruitland and New Plymouth before joining I‑84. It leaves at Bliss and soon crosses the Snake River, running south of it through Twin Falls and Burley before crossing it again and rejoining I‑84. At the split with Interstate 86, US 30 continues east with I‑86 almost to its end at Pocatello. US 30 cuts southeast through downtown Pocatello to Interstate 15, where it heads south to McCammon. There it exits and heads east and southeast into Wyoming, not paralleling an Interstate highway for the first time since Portland.
The Thousand Springs Scenic Byway is a picturesque section of old US 30 in southern Idaho between the towns of Bliss and Buhl, dipping down into the Hagerman Valley and a canyon of the Snake River. The byway takes its name from the numerous streams and rivulets springing forth out of the east wall of that canyon, many of them plainly visible from the road, with the panoramic river in the foreground. These springs are outlets from the Snake River Aquifer, which flows through thousands of square miles of porous volcanic rock and is one of the largest groundwater systems in the world. The aquifer is believed to be fed by the Lost River which disappears into lava flows near Arco, about northeast of Hagerman.

Wyoming

In Wyoming, US 30 heads southeast through Kemmerer to Granger, where it joins Interstate 80 across the southern part of the state. It is also here that it joins the historic Lincoln Highway. As in the previous two states, US 30 remains with the Interstate highway for most of its path, only leaving for the old route in the following places:
Unlike the three states to the west, Nebraska keeps US 30 completely separate from its parallel Interstates. From the state line to Grand Island, US 30 closely parallels I‑80. East of Grand Island, US 30 diverges from I‑80 and runs northeast towards Columbus on a highway parallel to the Platte River. At Columbus, it turns east towards Schuyler and Fremont and crosses the Missouri River into Iowa east of Blair.

Iowa

US 30 crosses Iowa from west to east approximately north of Interstate 80. Between Missouri Valley and Denison, US 30 runs in a southwest-to-northeast direction. Several freeway bypasses have been built around the major cities on US 30 - Ames, Marshalltown, Tama, Cedar Rapids and DeWitt. It crosses the Mississippi River into Illinois on the Gateway Bridge at Clinton.
U.S. Route 30S and U.S. Route 30A are two previous alternate alignments of US 30 in Iowa. They followed the original alignment of US 30 in the state. They both began in Nebraska, entered Iowa in Council Bluffs, and extended north to Missouri Valley via Crescent to meet the current highway.

Illinois

US 30 heads east in Illinois to Rock Falls, where it begins to parallel Interstate 88. At Aurora it turns southeast to Joliet, where it is a major thoroughfare in the city of Joliet, and then back east through New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Matteson, Olympia Fields, Park Forest, Chicago Heights, Ford Heights, and Lynwood to the Indiana state line, bypassing Chicago to the south. Notwithstanding, the original 1926 routing of US 30 ran directly through downtown Chicago.

Indiana

US 30 in Indiana is a major rural divided highway. It is not a freeway except at Fort Wayne, where it runs around the north side on Interstate 69 and Interstate 469. Between Interstate 65 and I‑69, there are over 40 traffic signals on this divided highway, hindering smooth traffic flow. This is especially pronounced near Warsaw and Columbia City, where the speed limit is reduced and there are many driveways from businesses, as well as traffic signals that are too near each other and poorly timed, causing frequent bottlenecks. Many of the other signals are concentrated between Hobart and Valparaiso, the two cities being about apart. It is, however, a four lane divided road through its entirety within Indiana, generally avoiding small towns. Speed limits range, but are generally.

Ohio

US 30 continues into Ohio, Where it is mainly a 4 lane divided highway until in Canton. A proposal to make US 30 a limited access freeway from Trump Ave and OH 11 was set in 2019 & federal funding has set $18 Million to construct the new freeway. As of 2020 the only sections that are limited access freeways are in Van Wert, Bucyrus, Mansfield, Wooster, & Canton. A section between I-71 & US-250 is a divided 4 lane highway. Also a section between OH 57 & OH 172 is a 4 lane divided highway with Traffic Signals at 2 intersections. The highway passes through Van Wert. After Van Wert it travels through Upper Sandusky where, the highway runs concurrent with US 23. The section between Mansfield and Canton follows the old Lincoln Highway. The last remaining segments that will be upgraded to a freeway is passed Canton, currently the highway is a 2 lane route that passes through East Canton, Minerva, & Lisbon. After Lisbon it concurs with OH 45 for 3 miles and it becomes a freeway. Designated with signs marking routes OH 11, OH 7, OH 39, & US 30. After joining Ohio 11, Ohio 7 becomes a part of the freeway where all 3 routes split in East Liverpool where US 30 joins OH 39 for 1 mile and US 30 crosses the Ohio River into West Virginia.

West Virginia

US 30 runs for only about in West Virginia. It crosses the Ohio River over the Jennings Randolph Bridge, continuing the freeway from the Ohio section. After cutting through the town of Chester with only one interchange, West Virginia Route 2, the freeway section ends not too long after. US 30 continues across the northernmost piece of the Northern Panhandle on a two-lane road.

Pennsylvania

US 30 heads southeast into Pennsylvania, joining U.S. Route 22 and then the Penn-Lincoln Parkway West west of Pittsburgh. It heads through downtown Pittsburgh on Interstate 376/US 22, leaving at Wilkinsburg for its own alignment. From there it roughly parallels the Pennsylvania Turnpike to the Philadelphia area, though in many areas, particularly from York past Lancaster, and bypassing Coatesville, Downingtown, and Exton, it is far enough from the Pennsylvania Turnpike to require its own freeway. As it approaches Philadelphia, US 30 constitutes the main road of the "Main Line", a famous string of affluent suburbs west of the city; often called Lancaster Avenue and Lancaster Pike through this stretch. US 30 then briefly joins I‑76 near downtown Philadelphia, splitting onto Interstate 676 to cross the Delaware River on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

New Jersey

US 30 splits from Interstate 676 just east of the Ben Franklin Bridge toll plaza in Camden and heads southeast to Atlantic City, generally parallel to the Atlantic City Expressway, passing through the New Jersey Pine Barrens. For most of its New Jersey run, it is known as the White Horse Pike. It ends in Atlantic City at Atlantic Avenue, about from the Atlantic Ocean.

History

US 30 was originally proposed to run from Salt Lake City, Utah to Atlantic City, New Jersey. West of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this was designated largely along the Lincoln Highway, as part of a promise to the Lincoln Highway Association to assign a single number to their road as much as possible. West of Salt Lake City, U.S. Route 40 continued to San Francisco, California, although it ran farther north than the Lincoln Highway east of Wadsworth, Nevada and west of Sacramento, California.
Around 1931, a split in Ohio was designated, from Delphos east to Mansfield. The original US 30 was assigned U.S. Route 30S, and a straighter route became U.S. Route 30N. US 30S was eliminated ca 1975, putting US 30 on former US 30N.
US 30 was rerouted ca 1931 to bypass Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa to the north. The former route, from Fremont, Nebraska to Missouri Valley, Iowa, was designated U.S. Route 30S. Around 1934 it was truncated to Omaha and c. 1939 it was changed from US 30S to US 30A and was removed from service in 1969 when the historic Douglas Street bridge was demolished.
Metropolitan Portland, Oregon has a signed US 30 "Bypass", beginning at the St. John's bridge, following Lombard Street in North Portland, continuing along Sandy Boulevard, and rejoining the Interstate 84|/US 30 route in the center of the town of Wood Village. Junctions with Interstate 5, US 30 at the St. John's bridge, and Interstate 205 are all signed with "US-30 BYPASS" markers. Portland also had a U.S. 30 Business route along N.E. Sandy Boulevard, however the route was decommissioned in 2007.
During the planning stages US 30 was proposed to run through and terminate in Salt Lake City, Utah, but Idaho and Oregon objected. What is now US 30 through those states had been designated as part of U.S. Route 20, another transcontinental route, but it took a detour to the north through Yellowstone National Park, making it inaccessible during the winter season. The states agreed to take US 30 along that route, splitting from the route to Salt Lake City at Granger, Wyoming and running along what had been designated as U.S. Route 530. The planned US 530 had ended at U.S. Route 91 at McCammon, Idaho, where the new US 30 turned north to Pocatello, meeting the planned US 20. What had been designated as U.S. Route 630, from US 30 at Echo, Utah to Ogden, Utah, was to be extended east on former US 30 to US 30 at Granger and northwest on US 91 and what had been designated U.S. Route 191 to US 30 at Burley.
Utah objected to that plan, however, as it removed US 30 from that state, giving them only US 630, a branch. A compromise was reached, in which the US 630 route would become the main line of US 30, once improved to higher standards, but that was still not deemed completely satisfactory. Ultimately, in the final system, a split was approved between Burley, Idaho and Granger, Wyoming, with U.S. Rout 30N running along the modern routing US 30, and U.S. Route 30S taking the route through Utah. In the final plan, the route towards Salt Lake City became U.S. Route 530, ending at U.S. Route 40 at Kimball Junction, Utah.
In 1988 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation engineers proposed that US 30 be rerouted and upgraded to a four-lane controlled-access expressway through a portion of Lancaster County. The American Farmland Trust opposed the plan because, according to Jim Riggle, then Director of Operations at AFT, it "would have cut right through the heart of the best farmland would probably have been the death knell of the Amish community." The plans were averted when more than a thousand Old Order Amish, people who do not usually participate in the public process, "drove their buggies to the meeting hall and expressed their concern by simply sitting quietly in the audience in their black homespun suits."

Major intersections

;Oregon
;Idaho
;Wyoming
;Nebraska
;Iowa
;Illinois
;Indiana
;Ohio
;West Virginia
;Pennsylvania
;New Jersey

Special routes

US 30 has had multiple alternate routes during it existence, but all have been finally eliminated. Although several business loops of US 30 have been decomission as well, nearly a dozen remain. In addition to these business loops, there is also one bypass, one emergency route, and one business alternate truck route.

Related routes