Fort Towson

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While US 30 has been mostly superseded by I-80 for long-haul travel across the state, it has been a major thoroughfare across Nebraska since the early twentieth century, most notably as a central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]

Route description

U.S. Highway 30 enters Nebraska just east of Pine Bluffs, Wyoming. It shares the first mile in Nebraska with Business Loop 80. After passing through Bushnell, it enters Kimball, where it meets Old Highway 71 near the center of town. On the east side of Kimball, US 30 passes beneath the new Nebraska Highway 71 bypass with access provided via Link 53E. It then continues east through Dix and Potter before meeting Nebraska Highway 19 west of Sidney. It then passes through Sidney concurrent with Business Loop 80. At the eastern end of Sidney, it meets U.S. Highway 385, and it remains concurrent with that highway through Lodgepole to Chappell. U.S. 30 then runs straight east towards Ogallala, briefly running concurrently with Nebraska Highway 27, intersecting U.S. Highway 138 north of Big Springs, and passing through Brule. After Brule, the highway is closely paralleled by the South Platte River to the south. East of Ogallala, U.S. 30 passes through Paxton before meeting Nebraska Highway 25 in Sutherland. After going through Hershey, it enters North Platte, where it meets U.S. Highway 83. It then crosses over the North Platte River above where the North and South Platte Rivers meet to form the Platte River.^[1][6]

After leaving North Platte, U.S. 30 turns in a southeasterly direction on an alignment north of the Platte River. It passes through Maxwell and Brady before entering Gothenburg, where it meets Nebraska Highway 47. It continues southeast into Cozad, where it meets Nebraska Highway 21. U.S. 30 and Highway 21 run concurrent into Lexington, where Highway 21 separates and U.S. 30 meets the northern end of U.S. Highway 283. U.S. 30 continues southeast through Overton and meets U.S. Highway 183 at Elm Creek. The highway turns east there and passes through Odessa before entering Kearney. In Kearney, U.S. 30 meets Nebraska Highway 44, and east of the city passes under the new East Kearney Bypass which is the new alignment of Nebraska Highway 10. From there it continues on to Gibbon. U.S. 30 passes through Gibbon, Shelton, Wood River (where it meets Nebraska Highway 11) and Alda before entering Grand Island, all of these on an alignment which generally goes northeasterly.^[1][6]

In Grand Island, U.S. Highway 30 intersects U.S. Highway 281 and Nebraska Highway 2 on the west side of Grand Island. It goes through downtown Grand Island on a pair of one-way streets, then goes northeast towards Columbus through Chapman before entering Central City. In Central City, U.S. 30 intersects Nebraska Highway 14. The highway continues northeast towards Clarks, but meets Nebraska Highway 92 southwest of Clarks. After Clarks, U.S. 30 meets Nebraska Highway 39 in Silver Creek. After going through Duncan, U.S. 30 turns east and intersects U.S. Highway 81 south of Columbus. The highway turns north with U.S. 81 to go into Columbus on a divided highway. They separate in Columbus and U.S. 30 turns east.^[1][6]

U.S. 30 east of Columbus is a divided highway. It goes east through Richland before changing into a freeway in the Schuyler area. North of Schuyler, U.S. 30 has an interchange with Nebraska Highway 15. U.S. 30 then becomes a two-lane highway east of Schuyler through Rogers and meets Nebraska Highway 79 in North Bend. It continues east and becomes a divided highway in the Fremont area, serving as the Fremont bypass. North of Fremont, U.S. 30 intersects U.S. Highway 77 and U.S. Highway 275, with U.S. 275 running concurrently around Fremont with U.S. 30. East of Fremont, U.S. 30 continues east again, passing through Arlington before meeting Nebraska Highway 31. U.S. 30 turns northeast, meeting Nebraska Highway 133 in a roundabout southwest of Blair. In Blair, U.S. 30 then meets Nebraska Highway 91 and U.S. Highway 75, which runs concurrently with U.S. 30 in Blair. U.S. 30 then leaves Blair, and then leaves Nebraska to enter Iowa via the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge.^[1][6]

History

There were two previous alternate routes of US 30 in Nebraska. U.S. Route 30S was the original route of US 30 in Nebraska. When US 30 was realigned to go between Fremont and Missouri Valley, Iowa, US 30S was created to replace the old US 30 between Fremont and Omaha. That route was decommissioned when US 275 was extended northwest from Council Bluffs, Iowa. Part of that route is today's Nebraska Highway 64. Later, U.S. Route 30A was created, which followed today's Nebraska Highway 92 east from Clarks to Omaha. Both of these alternate routes went into Iowa at Omaha.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Kimball	Bushnell Precinct	0.00	0.00	US 30 west / I-80 BL west / Lincoln Highway	Continuation into Pine Bluffs, Wyoming
		0.40	0.64	L-53B south to I-80
		9.07	14.60	L-53C south to I-80
	Kimball	22.31	35.90	L-53E to I-80 / N-71
	Dix	30.29	48.75	L-53A south (Spruce Street) to I-80
Cheyenne	Potter	39.59	63.71	L-17B south to I-80
	Brownson	50.13	80.68	L-17C south to I-80	Access to Road 17A – Industrial Park
	Sidney 4–Sidney 2 precinct line	55.56	89.42	N-19 south to I-80
	Sidney	60.07	96.67	L-17J south to I-80	Serves Sidney Municipal Airport and Sidney Regional Medical Center
		60.38	97.17	US 385 north – Bridgeport	Western end of US 385 overlap
	Sunol	69.88	112.46	L-17E south to I-80
	Lodgepole	77.06	124.02	L-17F south to I-80
Deuel	Chappell	86.12	138.60	US 385 south (Babcock Avenue) to I-80	Eastern end of US 385 overlap
	Swan Precinct	92.85	149.43	N-27 north – Oshkosh	Western end of N-27 overlap
		94.84	152.63	N-27 south to I-80 – Julesburg	Eastern end of N-27 overlap
	Big Springs Precinct	107.09	172.34	US 138 west to I-80 – Big Springs
Keith	Brule	116.57	187.60	L-51A south to I-80
	Brule Precinct	123.82	199.27	US 26 west / N-61 north	Western end of US 26/N-61 overlap
	Ogallala	125.81	202.47	East A Street / US 26 east / N-61 south to I-80	Eastern end of US 26/N-61 overlap; East A St. serves Ogallala Community Hospital
	Roscoe	133.29	214.51	L-51B south to I-80
	Paxton	144.92	233.23	L-51C south to I-80
Lincoln	Sutherland Precinct	156.52	251.89	N-25 south to I-80 – Wallace
	Hershey	163.77	263.56	L-56C south to I-80
	Hinman Precinct	163.77	263.56	Hoover Road (R-56E east)	Access to Buffalo Bill Ranch
	North Platte	176.71	284.39	US 83 (Jeffers Street) to I-80 – Downtown	Serves Great Plains Health
		179.00	288.07	L-56G south to I-80
	Maxwell	190.48	306.55	S-56A south (Pine Street) to I-80 – Fort McPherson National Cemetery
	Brady	199.39	320.89	L-56D south to I-80
Dawson	Gothenburg	212.34	341.73	Avenue D (L-24D) to I-80 / N-47
	Cozad	222.91	358.74	N-21 south (F Street) to I-80	Western end of N-21 overlap
	Coyote Precinct	231.14	371.98	L-24A south to I-80 – Darr Bridge
	Lexington	236.37	380.40	N-21 north (Ontario Street) to US 283 south	Eastern end of N-21 overlap; access to Adams Street
		236.94– 237.09	381.32– 381.56	US 283 south (Grant Street) to I-80	Northern terminus of US 283
	Overton Precinct	247.35	398.07	L-24B south to I-80
Buffalo	Elm Creek	256.10	412.15	L-10E north to I-80 / US 183
	Odessa	262.95	423.18	L-10B south (Odessa Road) to I-80 – Odessa
	Kearney	272.01	437.76	2nd Avenue to I-80	Former N-44 south; former N-10 north
		275.08	442.70	L-10F to N-10 / I-80
	Precinct 22–Precinct 29 line			Keystone Road to I-80	Former N-10 south
	Gibbon	285.06	458.76	L-10C south (Center Street) to I-80 – Business District
	Shelton	290.91	468.17	L-10D south (Shelton Road) to I-80
Hall	Wood River	298.46	480.32	L-40G north (Cottonwood Street) to N-11
	Alda	306.24	492.85	L-40C south to I-80
	Grand Island	312.09	502.26	US 281 south / N-2 east to I-80 – Hastings, St. Paul	Interchange
Merrick	Central City	336.72	541.90	N-14 (17th Avenue)
	Central Township	345.64	556.25	N-92 – Omaha	One-quadrant interchange; access via unsigned L-61D; N-92 east is former US 30A
	Silver Creek	358.95	577.67	N-39
Platte	Columbus Township	376.47	605.87	US 81 south – York	Western end of US 81 overlap
	Loup River	377.73	607.90	Concrete bridge {eastbound} Columbus Loup River Bridge (westbound)
	Columbus	378.45	609.06	US 81 north / US 30 Alt. east (23rd Street west)	Eastern end of US 81 overlap; western terminus of US 30 Alt.; serves Columbus Community Hospital
				US 30 Alt. west (East 6th Avenue) to US 81 north	Eastern terminus of US 30 Alt.; serves Columbus Community Hospital
Colfax	Schuyler Precinct	393.27	632.91	County Road 9 – Schuyler	Interchange
	Schuyler	395.37	636.29	N-15 (Road 11) – Schuyler	Interchange
Dodge	Cotterell Township	410.00	659.83	N-79
	Fremont	425.56	684.87	US 77 north / US 275 west – Norfolk, South Sioux City	Interchange; western end of US 77/US 275 overlap
		429.20	690.73	US 275 east / US 77 south (West Dodge Expressway)	Interchange, eastern end of US 275/US 77 overlap
Washington	Township 7	441.32	710.24	N-31 south – Elkhorn
	Township 2	443.18	713.23	S-89A north – Kennard
	Blair	447.48	720.15	N-133 south	Roundabout
		449.26	723.01	US 75 north / Lewis and Clark Trail north (Nineteenth Street north) / N-91 west (Washington Street west)	Western end of US 75/LCT overlap
		449.77	723.83	US 75 south (13th Street) / Lewis and Clark Trail south	Eastern end of US 75/LCT overlap
Missouri River		451.74	727.01	Blair Bridge; Nebraska–Iowa line
				US 30 east / Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway – Missouri Valley	Continuation into Iowa
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

See also

• U.S. Route 30
• Interstate 80 in Nebraska

References

External links

• The Nebraska Highways Page: Highways 1 to 30

U.S. Route 30
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Lincoln Highway
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