Why the National Bicycle Greenway Follows the Path it Does
In traveling from one coast to the other by bicycle, why have we selected the route that we have? Well to begin, we are starting from San Francisco in the state with the highest concentration of bicyclists. Toward that end, it is helpful to know that outside of California, the rest of the United States. all the way to the Mississippi River, is mostly open lands.
This is important to know because once we leave California, until we reach the Mississippi River, our route is mostly roads, many of which are old US Highways. The beauty of traveling in such a way is that there are good sightlines on US Highways. The up-and-down of climbing is also graded on them. In other words, instead of steep ups and steep downs that are closely spaced next to each other, earth has been moved so that the ascents and descents are more drawn out. This gives the rider a chance to pace them self for the hill work at hand.
In getting to the East Coast, the general direction of our route will rely on the first highway across America, the Lincoln Highway of 1914 that originated in Indianapolis. Unlike the Lincoln, however, our route travels over the Rockies and through Colorado. The Lincoln did not go this way because, in relying on roads well north of it, it was not until 1929 that the Rocky Mountains were crossed by Trailridge Highway (a doable 12,183 feet because of all its switchbacks, I pedaled over it in 1979).
In the same way that the Lincoln Hwy did, we travel north of Kansas and move across the lower part of Nebraska. This is how 19th Century settlers went from East to West. Now US 30, this was an important part of the Oregon Trail that early pioneers relied on so they could stock up for the journey to California or Oregon. Called the North Platte basin, this was where wild game and water were plentiful.
Now an important corridor, this is also the alignment the 1869 Transcontinental Railroad used. Just as the Lincoln Highway used it, before it was usurped by US 30, now it is used by the speeding cars and trucks of I-80, America’s interstate freeway. It also marks the flight path used by coast-to-coast passengers jet travel.
From Nebraska, we head across Iowa to Chicago. Going back to the 19th Century, Chicago was the endpoint of the cattle drives and railroads (bearing cattle) that traveled from the West. Just as all rail and trails led to Chicago in the 1800s, Chicago played an important in sending people to California when the transcontinental railroad came about.
The hub that brought East Coast passengers to Chicago was Indianapolis. This is why our route travels south from Chicago to get to Indianapolis on our way to the Nations Capital.
It is important to note, that America’s early settlers as well as today's coast-to-coast motor vehicle travelers all move across this nation well north of St. Louis, Missouri. I point this out because Indianapolis had more of an impact on settling the West than St. Louis ever did. I even devoted a whole chapter to this awareness, called “Indy was the Gateway to the West” in my book "How Indianapolis Built America and How it will Rebuild it with the National Bicycle Greenway”.
From Indianapolis, there will be two ways to get to Columbus and then Pittsburgh and Washington DC. The first will rely on the US 40 alignment that replaced the National Road that Thomas Jefferson signed into law in 1806. The other will use a combination of Car Free pathways and roads to get to Cincinnati about 100 miles away. And then Columbus another hundred miles more.
From Columbus, instead of staying on US 40 (the Old National Road alignment) to get to Washington DC, we will head to Pittsburgh. This is so because once we reach the former Steel City, the route to the Nations Capital is Car Free for the next 335 miles! Here you will leave the world behind as you enter the time warp of the GAP Trail/C&O Canal Trail to the finish.