U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is part of the

United States Numbered Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

that runs for from

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corn ...

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

. Within the state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

it is a state highway that travels west to east across the state from the Wyoming state line west of Bushnell to the Missouri River in

Blair Blair is an English-language name of Scottish Gaelic origin. The surname is derived from any of the numerous places in Scotland called ''Blair'', derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''blàr'', meaning "plain", "meadow" or "field", frequently a “ba ...

on the

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

state line. For much of its length it travels within the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself ...

valley, adjacent or near the river between Brule and Fremont, a distance of just over . This corridor was also highly traveled during

Westward Expansion The United States of America was created on July 4, 1776, with the U.S. Declaration of Independence of thirteen British colonies in North America. In the Lee Resolution two days prior, the colonies resolved that they were free and independent ...

along the California and

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. ...

Trails, it was also used by the

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...

and the

Transcontinental Railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

. The landscape is dominated by vast agricultural fields within the fertile Platte River valley across the center of the state, while the western portion passes through higher plains and the eastern portion through the rolling hills adjacent to the Missouri River valley. While US 30 has been mostly superseded by

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

for long-haul travel across the state, it has been a major thoroughfare across Nebraska since the early twentieth century, most notably as a central portion of the historic

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 19 ...

, an early transcontinental route from

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

that passed through Nebraska along the corridor that became US 30 once the route designations of the federal highway system were assigned in 1926. To showcase the historic importance of this early route across the state, the entire length of US 30 across Nebraska has been designated as the Lincoln Highway Scenic and Historic Byway, one of nine scenic byways designated by the

Nebraska Department of Roads The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) was the state government agency charged with building and maintaining the state and federal highways in the U.S. State of Nebraska from 1957 to 2017. The main headquarters of the agency was located in Linco ...

throughout the state.

Route description

U.S. Highway 30 enters Nebraska just east of

Pine Bluffs, Wyoming Pine Bluffs is a town in eastern Laramie County, Wyoming, United States. It is located on the county's border with Nebraska. Pine Bluffs is part of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,129 at the 2010 cens ...

. It shares the first mile in Nebraska with

Business Loop 80 Interstate 80 Business (I-80 Bus), called the Capital City Freeway in its entirety and also known as Business 80, is a business loop of Interstate 80 (I-80) through Sacramento, California, United States. The route is also collo ...

. After passing through Bushnell, it enters Kimball, where it meets Old Highway 71 near the center of town. On the east side of Kimball, US 30 passes beneath the new

Nebraska Highway 71 Nebraska Highway 71 is a highway in western Nebraska. Its southern terminus is at the Colorado border south of Kimball, as a continuation of Colorado State Highway 71. Its northern terminus is at the South Dakota border northwest of Crawford, w ...

bypass with access provided via Link 53E. It then continues east through Dix and Potter before meeting

Nebraska Highway 19 Nebraska Highway 19 is a highway in Nebraska. It has a southern terminus at the Colorado border south of Sidney and a northern terminus west of Sidney at an intersection with U.S. Highway 30. Route description Nebraska Highway 19 begins at the ...

west of Sidney. It then passes through Sidney concurrent with

. At the eastern end of Sidney, it meets U.S. Highway 385, and it remains concurrent with that highway through Lodgepole to Chappell. U.S. 30 then runs straight east towards Ogallala, briefly running concurrently with

Nebraska Highway 27 Nebraska Highway 27 is a highway in Nebraska. It is divided into three segments. The southernmost segment begins at the Kansas border and goes north to Haigler. The middle segment begins at Interstate 80 near Chappell and goes north to Oshkos ...

, intersecting U.S. Highway 138 north of Big Springs, and passing through Brule. After Brule, the highway is closely paralleled by the South Platte River to the south. East of Ogallala, U.S. 30 passes through Paxton before meeting

Nebraska Highway 25 Nebraska Highway 25 is a highway in southwestern Nebraska. It runs for . Its southern terminus is at the Kansas border south of Trenton. Its northern terminus is at U.S. Highway 30 in Sutherland. A previous routing of the highway is now Nebras ...

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later c ...

. After going through Hershey, it enters

North Platte North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, where it meets U.S. Highway 83. It then crosses over the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 In ...

above where the North and South Platte Rivers meet to form the

. After leaving North Platte, U.S. 30 turns in a southeasterly direction on an alignment north of the Platte River. It passes through

Maxwell Maxwell may refer to: People * Maxwell (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician and physicist * Justice Maxwell (disambiguation) * Maxwell baronets, in the Baronetage of ...

and

Brady Brady may refer to: People * Brady (surname) * Brady (given name) * Brady (nickname) * Brady Boone, a ring name of American professional wrestler Dean Peters (1958–1998) Places in the United States * Brady, Montana, a census-designated pl ...

before entering

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...

, where it meets

Nebraska Highway 47 Nebraska Highway 47 is a highway in Nebraska. It is a highway split into two segments. The southern segment runs for between Nebraska Highway 89 near Wilsonville and U.S. Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 34 in Cambridge. The northern segment runs ...

. It continues southeast into Cozad, where it meets Nebraska Highway 21. U.S. 30 and Highway 21 run concurrent into

Lexington Lexington may refer to: Places England * Laxton, Nottinghamshire, formerly Lexington Canada * Lexington, a district in Waterloo, Ontario United States * Lexington, Kentucky, the largest city with this name * Lexington, Massachusetts, the oldes ...

, where Highway 21 separates and U.S. 30 meets the northern end of U.S. Highway 283. U.S. 30 continues southeast through Overton and meets U.S. Highway 183 at Elm Creek. The highway turns east there and passes through

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

before entering Kearney. In Kearney, U.S. 30 meets

Nebraska Highway 44 Nebraska Highway 44 (NE-44) is a highway in Franklin, Kearney, and Buffalo counties in Nebraska, United States. It runs in a south-to-north direction from Nebraska Highway 4 (NE-4) south of Wilcox to an intersection with Interstate 80 (I-80) i ...

, and east of the city passes under the new East Kearney Bypass which is the new alignment of

Nebraska Highway 10 Nebraska Highway 10 is a highway in Nebraska. Its southern terminus is at the Kansas border south of Franklin. Its northern terminus is at an intersection with Nebraska Highway 58, Nebraska Highway 92, and Recreation Road 82B in Loup City. Ro ...

. From there it continues on to

Gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast Indi ...

. U.S. 30 passes through Gibbon,

Shelton Shelton may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire * Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire * Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...

Wood River Wood River may refer to: Rivers In Canada * Wood River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Columbia River via Kinbasket Lake * Wood River (Saskatchewan), a river in south-west Saskatchewan In Ireland * Wood River (County Clare), Kilru ...

(where it meets

Nebraska Highway 11 Nebraska Highway 11 (N-11) is a state highway in central and northern Nebraska, United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 80 (I-80) south of Wood River. Its northern terminus is at the South Dakota border north of Butte. The highway g ...

) and Alda before entering Grand Island, all of these on an alignment which generally goes northeasterly. In Grand Island, U.S. Highway 30 intersects U.S. Highway 281 and

Nebraska Highway 2 Nebraska Highway 2 (N-2) is a state highway in Nebraska consisting of two discontinuous segments. The western segment begins at the South Dakota border northwest of Crawford and ends southeast of Grand Island at an intersection with Interstate ...

on the west side of Grand Island. It goes through downtown Grand Island on a pair of one-way streets, then goes northeast towards Columbus through

Chapman Chapman may refer to: Businesses * Chapman Entertainment, a former British television production company * Chapman Guitars, a guitar company established in 2009 by Rob Chapman * Chapman's, a Canadian ice cream and ice water products manufacture ...

before entering

Central City In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city i ...

. In Central City, U.S. 30 intersects

Nebraska Highway 14 Nebraska Highway 14 (N-14) is a highway in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It has a southern terminus at the Kansas border, where it continues south as K-14, southwest of Superior and a northern terminus east of Niobrara at the South Dakota border ...

. The highway continues northeast towards Clarks, but meets

Nebraska Highway 92 Nebraska Highway 92 is a highway that enters the state from Nebraska's western border at the Wyoming state line west of Lyman, Nebraska, to the state's eastern border on the South Omaha Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River in Omah ...

southwest of Clarks. After Clarks, U.S. 30 meets

Nebraska Highway 39 Nebraska Highway 39 is a highway in central Nebraska. It runs for a length of . It has a southern terminus west of Osceola at an intersection with Nebraska Highway 92. Its northern terminus is at an intersection with Nebraska Highway 14 southe ...

in Silver Creek. After going through Duncan, U.S. 30 turns east and intersects U.S. Highway 81 south of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. The highway turns north with U.S. 81 to go into Columbus on a divided highway. They separate in Columbus and U.S. 30 turns east. U.S. 30 east of Columbus is a divided highway. It goes east through Richland before changing into a freeway in the

Schuyler Schuyler may refer to: Places United States * Schuyler County, Illinois * Schuyler County, Missouri * Schuyler, Nebraska, a city * Schuyler County, New York * Schuyler, New York, a town * Schuyler Island, Lake Champlain, New York * Schuyler Cre ...

area. North of Schuyler, U.S. 30 has an interchange with

Nebraska Highway 15 Nebraska Highway 15 (N-15) is a highway in eastern Nebraska, United States. It has a southern terminus at the Kansas border south of Fairbury and a northern terminus northeast of Maskell at the South Dakota border. Route description Nebraska ...

. U.S. 30 then becomes a two-lane highway east of Schuyler through Rogers and meets

Nebraska Highway 79 Nebraska Highway 79 is a highway in eastern Nebraska. It is a north–south highway which has a length of . The southern terminus of Highway 79 is northwest of Lincoln near Lincoln Airport at U.S. Highway 34. The northern terminus of High ...

in North Bend. It continues east and becomes a divided highway in the Fremont area, serving as the Fremont bypass. North of Fremont, U.S. 30 intersects U.S. Highway 77 and U.S. Highway 275, with U.S. 275 running concurrently around Fremont with U.S. 30. East of Fremont, U.S. 30 continues east again, passing through Arlington before meeting

Nebraska Highway 31 Nebraska Highway 31 is a highway in Nebraska. The southern terminus is near Louisville at an intersection with Nebraska Highway 50. The northern terminus is near Kennard at an intersection with U.S. Highway 30. The highway serves as a main nor ...

. U.S. 30 turns northeast, meeting Nebraska Highway 133 in a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford Eng ...

southwest of

. In Blair, U.S. 30 then meets

Nebraska Highway 91 Nebraska Highway 91 is a highway in central and eastern Nebraska. Its western terminus is at an intersection with Nebraska Highway 2 north of Dunning. Its eastern terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Highway 30 and U.S. Highway 75 in Blai ...

and U.S. Highway 75, which runs concurrently with U.S. 30 in Blair. U.S. 30 then leaves Blair, and then leaves Nebraska to enter Iowa via the

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge : ''The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge can also refer to the Blair Bridge in Iowa and Nebraska. There is also a Lincoln Memorial Bridge in Vincennes, Indiana.'' Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge in Illinois is a four-lane bidirectional road bridge ...

History

There were two previous alternate routes of US 30 in Nebraska. U.S. Route 30S was the original route of US 30 in Nebraska. When US 30 was realigned to go between Fremont and

Missouri Valley, Iowa Missouri Valley is a city in Harrison County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,678 at the time of the 2020 census. History Originally, Missouri Valley was known as St. John's (Findley or Old St. Johns), and established in 1856. This set ...

, US 30S was created to replace the old US 30 between Fremont and

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. That route was decommissioned when

US 275 U.S. Route 275 (US 275) is a north–south United States highway that is a branch of US 75. It originally terminated at US 75 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The highway's northern terminus is in O'Neill, Nebraska, at an intersection with U.S. Highw ...

was extended northwest from

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is l ...

. Part of that route is today's

Nebraska Highway 64 Nebraska Highway 64 is a highway in Nebraska. There are two segments to the highway. The western segment lies in Butler County between U.S. Highway 81 and Nebraska Highway 15. The eastern segment goes through Saunders and Douglas counties bet ...

. Later, U.S. Route 30A was created, which followed today's Nebraska Highway 92 east from Clarks to Omaha. Both of these alternate routes went into Iowa at Omaha.

Major intersections

References

External links

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links