Dixie Highway - Routes

Routes

For local details about the routes, see the individual articles linked.

The Western division connected Chicago, Illinois and Miami, Florida via Danville in Illinois; Indianapolis and Bedford in Indiana; Louisville, Elizabethtown, and Bowling Green in Kentucky; Nashville and Chattanooga in Tennessee; Atlanta, Macon, and Albany in Georgia; and Tallahassee, Gainesville, Orlando, Arcadia, and Naples in Florida.

Except for realignments made since the 1920s, the western division is now Illinois Route 1 and U.S. Route 136 to Indianapolis, Indiana State Road 37 and U.S. Route 150 to Louisville, U.S. Route 31W, U.S. Route 68, and U.S. Route 431 to Nashville, and U.S. Route 41, U.S. Route 231, U.S. Route 41A, and U.S. Route 41 to Chattanooga. At Chattanooga, the two divisions intersected; the western took a longer route along U.S. Route 27 and U.S. Route 411 through Rome and then returned to U.S. Route 41, through Atlanta — where the eastern division split — to Macon. The highway traveled the present Georgia State Route 49, U.S. Route 19, and U.S. Route 319 to Tallahassee, U.S. Route 27 and U.S. Route 441 to Orlando, and U.S. Route 17 and U.S. Route 41 (over the Tamiami Trail) to Miami.

The Eastern division connected Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan with Miami, Florida, running via Saginaw and Detroit in Michigan; Toledo, Dayton, and Cincinnati in Ohio; Lexington in Kentucky; Knoxville and Chattanooga in Tennessee; Atlanta and Savannah in Georgia; and Jacksonville and West Palm Beach in Florida.

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the highway followed former U.S. Route 2, now replaced by Interstate 75. It crossed the Straits of Mackinac and then used U.S. Route 23 and old U.S. Route 10 to Detroit. Currently it still exists in Michigan as the name of a secondary road from Saginaw southeast to the county line (as an alternate route to Flint), from southeast Flint to northwest Pontiac, and from Flat Rock southwest to Monroe ending at the state line. A short section of the Dixie Highway in northwest lower Michigan running north from Eastport in Antrim County to the village of Norwood in Charlevoix County is named Old Dixie Highway--U.S. Route 31 parallels this road to the east. In Ohio, it is old U.S. Route 25 (now designated as OH Route 25) to Cincinnati, current U.S. Route 25 and U.S. Route 25W to Knoxville, and U.S. Route 70 and U.S. Route 27 to Chattanooga. The eastern division took a more direct route than the western between Chattanooga and Atlanta, following U.S. Route 41 all the way, but it followed a more circuitous path south of Atlanta. Traffic left Atlanta to the east on U.S. Route 278, following U.S. Route 441, Georgia State Route 24, a short section of U.S. Route 301, and Georgia State Route 21 to Savannah. There, the route turned south along the coast via U.S. Route 17 to Jacksonville and U.S. Route 1 to Miami.

The Central division was a short cutoff between the western division at Macon, Georgia and the eastern at Jacksonville, Florida, forming a shorter route to Miami than either route on its own. This followed U.S. Route 41, U.S. Route 341, U.S. Route 129, Georgia State Route 32, and U.S. Route 1.

The Carolina division cut the distance between Knoxville and Waynesboro, both on the eastern division. This is now U.S. Route 25W and U.S. Route 25, and passes through Asheville, Greenville, and Augusta on its way to the eastern division towards Savannah.