Dixie Highway

Dixie Highway
Chicago–Miami Expressway Canada–Miami Expressway Macon–Jacksonville Expressway
Route information
Length:	5,786 mi (9,312 km)
Existed:	1915 – present
Western division
North end:	Chicago, IL
South end:	Miami, FL
Eastern division
North end:	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
South end:	Miami, FL
Central division
North end:	Macon, GA
South end:	Jacksonville, FL
Location
States:	Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida
Highway system
Auto Trails

Dixie Highway-Hastings, Espanola and Bunnell Road
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Show map of Florida Show map of the US
Location	Flagler and St. Johns counties, Florida, USA
Nearest city	Hastings and Espanola
Coordinates	29°34′49″N 81°20′35″W / 29.58028°N 81.34306°W / 29.58028; -81.34306
Area	72.7 acres (29.4 ha)
Built	1916
Architect	Wilson, James Y.; McCrary Engineering Company
NRHP Reference #	05000311
Added to NRHP	April 20, 2005

The Dixie Highway 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 network of connected paved roads, rather than one 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 first road across the United States. 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 governments, and states. In the early years the U.S. 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 the U.S. Route system, with some portions becoming state roads.

The route was marked by a red stripe with the white letters "DH", usually with a white stripe above and below. The logo was commonly painted on utility poles.

The Dixie Highway, an idea of Carl G. Fisher of the Lincoln Highway Association, was organized in early December 1914 in Chattanooga. On April 3, 1915, governors of the interested states met at Chattanooga, and each selected two commissioners to lay out the route from Chicago to Miami. On May 22, 1915, the commission decided on a split route in order to serve more communities. The route left Chicago to the south via Danville, Illinois and turned east to Indianapolis, where it split. The west branch headed south through Tennessee via Louisville and Nashville to Chattanooga, Tennessee, while the east route went east from Indianapolis to Dayton, Ohio before turning south via Cincinnati; Lexington, Kentucky; and Knoxville, Tennessee; to Chattanooga. Two alternate routes were included between Chattanooga and Atlanta, and again between Atlanta and Macon, Georgia. Finally, between Macon and Jacksonville, Florida, the west route went south to Tallahassee, Florida before turning east, while the east route had yet to be defined in detail. From Jacksonville, the route followed the east coast south to Miami along the John Anderson Highway. The commission voted to invite Michigan and to extend a branch of the east route from Dayton north to Detroit via Toledo, as well as to study a loop around Lake Michigan and a western route between Tallahassee and Miami.