From Sea to Shining Sea

Route 20 passes through Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Oregon.

U.S. Route 20 is the longest road in the United States, stretching 3,365 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon.

Portions of the highway originally began as trails used by Native Americans for travel and trade across the landscape. Stagecoach lines connected growing settlements. Increased use by early automobiles in the 1920s led to the paving of dirt and gravel segments.   Formally commissioned as part of the U.S. Numbered Highway System on November 11, 1926, the original route ran from Boston to Yellowstone National Park. The western terminus was extended all the way to Oregon, meeting U.S. Route 101 on the west coast.  After shifting infrastructure designations over the decades, it officially became the longest continuous highway in the country in 1963 confirmed by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Serving as a primary east-west artery before modern interstate highways, the route drove westward expansion in 1940 before reaching its current length in 1960. After WWII, families used the highway for leisure travel and cross-country summer vacations.  

Traffic declined following the construction of parallel superhighways llike the New York State Thruway and the Interstate system, leaving Route 20 preserved as a time capsule of classic roadside Americana. Groups like the Route 20 Association of New York State now work to preserve and promote the historic corridor and its scenic byway segments. 

This Rotary Gas Garden is a prime example of a time capsule location on Route 20 located between Westfield, New York and Ripley, New York.

Rotary Gas Garden

Route 20

Proprietor, Ernest W. Burdick

..then..

..now..

Aerial View of Route 20 and Old Route 20

The Iconic Forsythe Bridge Looking East 

Circa 1950

"20 mph on Route 20"

Roadtrips that follow the cross-country highways of yesteryear mostly take place in people's imagination, not2 on the blacktop. However, there is one historic highway where it is still possible to get in touch with the glory days of the American road trip.  And that road trip is Route 20.  For most of its length, Route 20 runs roughly parallel to I-90 which connects Boston and Seattle .. a distance of 3,100 miles. 

Sidenote:  Ernest W. Burdick was my father.