Lee Highway
Lee Highway | |
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Length | 3,700 mi (6,000 km) |
| Existed | 1923–present |
| Major junctions | |
| East end | The Ellipse in Washington, D.C. |
| West end | San Diego |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| States | District of Columbia, Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California |
| Highway system | |
The Lee Highway was a United States auto trail through the American South and Southwest. When opened in 1923, it connected Washington, D.C., and San Diego, California; extensions were later added to New York and San Francisco.
The route was created to be a Southern complement to the Lincoln Highway, the nation's first transcontinental auto route. It was named for Confederate general Robert E. Lee as part of a broad effort to present Confederate actions during the American Civil War as just, heroic, and not centered on slavery.
The route was laid out by the Lee Highway Association, a private group founded in 1919 to create the route and encourage the improvement of roadways between Washington and San Diego. The later extensions used existing developed highways.
By 1926, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) adopted the U.S. numbered highway system to replace named trails. Parts of Lee Highway were designated with route numbers—east to west, U.S. 211, U.S. 11, U.S. 72, U.S. 70, U.S. 366, and U.S. 80—while other parts retained vestiges of its earlier name and history.
The highway's name is remembered in the titles of several bluegrass fiddle songs.