The National Auto Trails Associations
The National Auto Trail began in the 1910s as part of the Good Roads Movement. With the growth of the automobile, state highways were beginning to be developed. The idea began to develop for a need for longer, interstate roads and associations developed to work with the various state transportation departments to interlink the roads. In 1911, the National Old Trails Association was created to establish the National Old Trails Highway, a road linking New York City with Los Angeles. In 1912, the Lincoln Highway Association was created to establish the Lincoln Highway, a road between New York City and San Francisco championed by bicycle and auto parts and racing tycoon Carl Graham Fisher. Three years later, in 1915, the The Old Spanish Trail Association was founded in Mobile, Alabama, to develop the southernmost national highway from St. Augustine, Florida, to San Diego, California. Subscriptions from individual cities and towns on the proposed route, along with individual memberships and donations from corporations, provided funds for the groups. Actual maintenance and construction of the roads remained the responsibility of the individual states.
However, problems were not unheard of. In some cases, states would not cooperate with the organizations. The Lincoln Highway Association wanted a branch to come off the main road at Ely, Nevada to carry travelers to Los Angeles. The state of Utah, though, wanted it to branch off at Salt Lake City, Utah to keep travelers in their state longer. They therefore refused to upgrade a section of the Lincoln Highway west of Salt Lake City.
Other problems included con-artists collecting money from towns and then disappearing, never providing support for the road as agreed. Also, signs at times became sporadic or difficult to read and multiple trails on the same road (also known as overlapping) tended to cause confusion to motorists. These problems would result in the creation of the U.S. Highway System in 1926.
Read more about this topic: U.S. Highway Association
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