. This section was previously part of the older John Anderson Highway .]]
The was a United States Automobile Highway first planned in 1914 , to connect the US Midwest with the Southern United States . 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 both projects 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.
The Dixie Highway, an idea of , 1918, Vol. 3 , pp. 1823-1824
Within a week, Michigan agreed to construct a loop around the Lower Peninsula , passing via South Bend , Mackinaw City , Detroit , and Toledo . Atlanta Constitution , Peninsular Loop is Agreed Upon, May 31 , 1915 Detroit became the northern end of the eastern division, with the old route to Indianapolis becoming a connecting link.[ In early April 1916, the commission approved the route between Macon and Jacksonville via Savannah , and designated the more direct route via Waycross as the central division. Atlanta Constitution , Wonderful Progress in Road Construction Shown by Two Auto Tours, April 2 , 1916 At the urging of locals, Atlanta Constitution , Urge Old Capitol Route, April 18 , 1916 the eastern division was realigned to a more direct path northwest from Milledgeville to Atlanta over the "Old Capitol Route", bypassing Macon, and the old eastern division via McDonough , Jackson , and Macon was removed from the system in early July 1916. Atlanta Constitution , Highway Directors Bar Eastern Route Atlanta to Macon, July 2 , 1916 By early 1917, the western division had been modified to go southeast from Tallahassee via Kissimmee and Bartow to the eastern division at Jupiter ; Newark Advocate , February 13 , 1917 the old Tallahassee-Jacksonville route became another connection. The Carolina division, connecting to the the eastern division at Knoxville and Waynesboro , was approved in mid-May 1918. Atlanta Constitution , Include New Link in Dixie Highway, May 17 , 1918 By mid-1919, a short piece on Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Sault Ste. Marie became part of the eastern division of the highway, which was extended north from Detroit to Mackinaw City and across the Straits Of Mackinac . Fort Wayne News And Sentinel , System of Roads Urged by Hoosier State Automobile Association, August 27 , 1919 ]
For local details about the routes, see the individual articles linked.
The connected Chicago and Miami via Danville , Indianapolis , Bedford , Louisville , Bowling Green , Nashville , Chattanooga , Atlanta , Macon , Albany , Tallahassee , Gainesville , Orlando , Arcadia , and Naples . Except for realignments made since tho 1920s, the western division is now Illinois Route 1 and U.S. Route 136 to Indianapolis, Indiana State Road 37 and U.S. Route 150 to Louisville, U.S. Route 31W , U.S. Route 68 , and U.S. Route 431 to Nashville, and U.S. Route 41 , U.S. Route 231 , U.S. Route 41A , and U.S. Route 41 to Chattanooga. At Chattanooga, the two divisions intersected; the western took a longer route along U.S. Route 27 and U.S. Route 411 through Rome and then returned to U.S. Route 41, through Atlanta - where the eastern division split - to Macon. The highway traveled the present Georgia State Route 49 , U.S. Route 19 , and U.S. Route 319 to Tallahassee, U.S. Route 27 and U.S. Route 441 to Orlando, and U.S. Route 17 and U.S. Route 41 (over the Tamiami Trail ) to Miami.
The connected Sault Ste. Marie with Miami, running via Saginaw , Detroit , Toledo , Dayton , Cincinnati , Lexington , Knoxville , Chattanooga , Atlanta , Savannah , Jacksonville , and West Palm Beach . In Michigan's Upper Peninsula , the highway followed former U.S. Route 2 , now replaced by Interstate 75 . It crossed the Straits Of Mackinac and then used U.S. Route 31 and old U.S. Route 10 to Detroit, old U.S. Route 25 to Cincinsnati, current U.S. Route 25 and U.S. Route 25W to Knoxville, and U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 27 to Chattanooga. The eastern division took a more direct route than the western between Chattanooga and Atlanta, following U.S. Route 41 all the way, but it followed a more circuitous path south of Atlanta. Traffic left Atlanta to the east on U.S. Route 278 , following U.S. Route 441 , Georgia State Route 24 , a short piece of U.S. Route 301 , and Georgia State Route 21 to Savannah. There the route turned south along the coast via U.S. Route 17 to Jacksonville and U.S. Route 1 to Miami.
The was a short cutoff between the western division at Macon and the eastern at Jacksonville , forming a shorter route to Miami than either route on its own. This followed U.S. Route 41 , U.S. Route 341 , U.S. Route 129 , Georgia State Route 32 , and U.S. Route 1 . The '''Carolina division''' cut the distance between Knoxville and Waynesboro , both on the eastern division. This is now U.S. Route 25W and U.S. Route 25 , and passes through Asheville , Greenville , and Augusta on its way to the eastern division towards Savannah .
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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 . A large portion of the former U.S. 25 in western Ohio ultimately ended up in 1963 (after Interstate 75's completion in that area) as county highway 25-A. A four lane portion runs through Bowling Green between Cygnet and Toledo as Ohio State Route 25 and in Michigan as M-25 running through Detroit and ending in Bay City. The eastern portion from Jacksonville, Florida south was largely replaced with U.S. Route 1 .
The portion of the western route from Nashville, Tennessee , north to Louisville, Kentucky , is now U.S. Highway 31W . In most of the cities it traverses in Kentucky, it is still referred to as "Dixie Highway" or "Dixie Avenue." The western route generally follows the present-day route of U.S. Highway 31 from Louisville to Indianapolis. From Nashville to Indianapolis, the route parallels Interstate 65 . Portions of this stretch were originally parts of the Louisville And Nashville Turnpike , which began construction in the 1830s.
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 remains as a local road. In some South Florida cities, Dixie Highway (or sometimes Old Dixie Highway) parallels "Federal Highway" ( U.S. Route 1 ), sometimes just a block away. In Tennessee, the name lives on in Dixie Lee Junction (where Dixie Highway and Lee Highway intersected).
In some cities and towns, Dixie Highway is the north-south axis of the street numbering system. The extension of development westward means that the northwest and southwest quadrants of the grid defined in this manner are generally much larger than the northeast and southeast ones which are constrained by the Atlantic Ocean . Also, the route of Dixie Highway generally parallels the coast, often running diagonally instead of straight north and south, causing irregularities in the numbering system.
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