U.S. Route 30 in Nebraska

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 30 in Nebraska. For the entire route, see U.S. Route 30.
U.S. Highway 30 marker
U.S. Highway 30
Map
US 30 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NDOT
Length451.74 mi[1] (727.01 km)
Existed1926[2]–present
Tourist
routes		 Lincoln Highway Scenic & Historic Byway
Major junctions
West end US 30 at Wyoming state line
Major intersections
East end US 30 at Iowa state line
Location
CountryUnited States
StateNebraska
CountiesKimball, Cheyenne, Deuel, Keith, Lincoln, Dawson, Buffalo, Hall, Merrick, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Washington
Highway system
← N-29→ N-31

U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs for 3,073 miles (4,946 km) from Astoria, Oregon to Atlantic City, New Jersey. Within the state of Nebraska it is a state highway that travels 451.74 miles (727.01 km) west to east across the state from the Wyoming state line west of Bushnell to the Missouri River in Blair on the Iowa state line. Despite not intersecting I-80 even once, much of its length until Grand Island is closely parallel with the interstate, not being more than a mile or two away. For most of its route, US 30 travels within the Platte River valley, adjacent to or near the river between Brule and Fremont, a distance of just over 300 miles (480 km).[1] This corridor was also highly traveled during Westward Expansion along the California and Oregon Trails, it was also used by the Pony Express and the Transcontinental Railroad.[3] The landscape is dominated by vast agricultural fields within the fertile Platte River valley across the center of the state, while the western portion passes through higher plains and the eastern portion through the rolling hills adjacent to the Missouri River valley.[4]

While US 30 has been mostly superseded by I-80 for long-haul travel across the state, it has been a major thoroughfare across Nebraska since the early twentieth century, most notably as a central portion of the historic Lincoln Highway, an early transcontinental route from New York, New York to San Francisco, California that passed through Nebraska along the corridor that became US 30 once the route designations of the federal highway system were assigned in 1926. To showcase the historic importance of this early route across the state, the entire length of US 30 across Nebraska has been designated as the Lincoln Highway Scenic and Historic Byway, one of nine scenic byways designated by the Nebraska Department of Roads throughout the state.[5]

  1. ^ a b "Nebraska Highway Reference Log Book" (PDF). Nebraska Department of Roads. 2015. pp. 94–107. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 2, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  2. ^ "US 6-38". Nebraska Roads. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  3. ^ Nebraska State Historical Society; Nebraska Department of Roads (August 2002). "Nebraska Historic Highway Survey" (PDF). Nebraska Department of Roads. p. 49. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  4. ^ Topographic Regions Map (Map). University of Nebraska–Lincoln. 1973.
  5. ^ Nebraska Department of Roads (January 2012). Nebraska Scenic Byways (PDF) (Map). Retrieved January 31, 2017.