page_title: Dixie Overland Highway
section_title: U.S. Route 80 today
hierarchical_section_title: Dixie Overland Highway / U.S. Route 80 today
context_page_description: The Dixie Overland Highway was an auto trail across the southern United States. It was conceived in July 1914 by the Automobile Club of Savannah, which envisioned a practical all-year driving route from Georgia to California. It was originally developed as a cross-country route, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean making history as the first ever ocean to ocean highway route. In 1925, the federal Joint Board on Interstate Highways created U.S. Route 80, largely following the route of the Dixie Overland Highway.
context_section_description: Although The Dixie Overland Highway may contemporaneously be known as U.S. Route 80 (US 80), it was still the first road to reach the goal of developing an ocean-to-ocean highway system. The United States Numbered Highway System was created in November 1926, turning the Dixie Overland Highway into US 80. The only parts of the DOH that were not incorporated into US 80 were three sections in Georgia, two short sections in Alabama, and one across western Texas. US 80 today runs 161 miles (259 km). The entire segment west of Dallas, Texas, has been decommissioned in favor of various Interstate Highways and state highways. Currently, the highway's western terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 30 (I-30) on the Dallas–Mesquite, Texas city line. The highway's eastern terminus is in Tybee Island, Georgia near the interchange of I-516 and US 17 in Savannah, at the intersection of State Route 26, Butler Avenue, Inlet Avenue, and Tybrisa Street, near the Atlantic Ocean. Between Jonesville, Texas, and Kewanee, Mississippi, US 80 runs parallel to or concurrently with I-20. US 80 also currently runs through Dallas, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Montgomery, Alabama; Columbus, Georgia; Macon, Georgia; and Savannah, Georgia. 
  Throughout the 1950s, US 80 grew to become a popular highway that often competed with US 66. At one point, more cars were recorded entering California on US 80 than on US 66. Like US 66, US 80 would grow to become a keystone highway in shaping American car culture. This period of renaissance would be short lived, with the creation of the Interstate and Defense Highway System in 1957. Four Interstates were slated to replace US 80 as a major highway; Interstate 8 between San Diego and Yuma, Arizona, Interstate 10 between Tucson and Pecos, Texas, Interstate 20 between Pecos and Meridian, Mississippi and Interstate 16 between Macon, Georgia and Savannah.
  Between 1964 and 1991, US 80 was slowly removed in increments between Dallas and San Diego. US 80 was seen as obsolete to the western states, which favored the new Interstate highways in its place. As such, US 80 is no longer an active U.S. Highway in California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas. Today, I-8, I-10 and I-20 have largely replaced US 80 between Dallas and San Diego. Notable surviving sections of old US 80 include the entirety of both New Mexico State Road 80 and Arizona State Route 80, and all of County Route S80 in Imperial County, California. Other former sections of US 80, particularly in California and parts of Arizona, carry the title Old Highway 80 or similar variations of that name. Multiple efforts are working to designate whole sections of US 80 as a historic route. California became the first state to recognize Historic U.S. Route 80 in 2007. As of 2018, the states of California, Arizona and Louisiana recognize former and current sections of US 80 as a historic route.
caption: Historic Route sign seen on California US 80