As presidents shaped the country we live in today, it is only proper that the roads we travel every day bear their names. 

Roadways in the United States are often named after presidents, especially when they cut through a special milestone in their presidential tenure or near their birthplace. 

Some presidents are honored with more roadways than others: George Washington has the highest number of roads named after him, followed by Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. 

Though there are countless roadways across the country named after presidents, Roads & Bridges selected five significant roads to dive into: 

Lincoln Highway 

Spanning from New York City to San Francisco’s Lincoln Park, this historic transcontinental highway is considered the precursor to the U.S. Interstate Highway System. 

The roadway was dreamt up by a group of automobile enthusiasts and industry officials to build a coast-to-coast paved highway that was open to all traffic without toll roads. 

The project was spearheaded by Carl G. Fisher, an early automobile enthusiast who built the Indianapolis Speedway, and was paid for with the help of funds from his fellow automobile enthusiasts. 

The route was selected when a caravan of “Trailblazers” took off from Indianapolis to find the most direct route west to San Francisco over a period of 34 days, and the route was announced on Sept. 14, 1913. 

According to the Federal Highway Administration, some of the segments of the highway incorporated historic roadways, including: 

• A road laid out by Dutch colonists in New Jersey in 1675
• The 62-mile Philadelphia to Lancaster Pike, the first extensive turnpike in the country
• A British military trail built in 1758
• Ridge Road, an ancient Native American trail in Ohio
• Sections of the Mormon Trail 
• The route of the Overland Stage Line and the Pony Express
• The Donner Pass

Some of today’s highway system follow segments of the historic highway including U.S. Route 30 from Pennsylvania to Wyoming and Interstate 80, which largely supersedes the Lincoln Highway as the country’s predominant intercontinental route. 

George Washington Memorial Parkway

Managed by the National Park Service, the George Washington Memorial Parkway is one of the country’s most prominent commemorative parkways. With a focus on American history and preservation, the parkway provides a space for recreational driving through the Washington D.C., metro from Mount Vernon to McLean in Virginia. 

Developed in stages between 1929 and 1970, the parkway connects 22 sites that commemorate the nation’s history and heritage, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Along the route, motorists can see the home of the first president, the nation’s capital that he founded and the Great Falls of the Potomac, where he demonstrated his skills as an engineer, according to the National Park Foundation. 

Along the full parkway, motorists, pedestrians and cyclists have scenic views of the Potomac River. 

Many motorways developed in a similar vein to the George Washington Memorial Parkway later became major urban and commuter routes, the Federal Highway Administration noted. 

Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway (Interstate 290)

The expressway named after the founder of the interstate highway system serves as the western gateway into Chicago and central Chicago, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. It connects the city’s western suburbs to the Loop and major highways including Interstate 88, Interstate 294 and Interstate 355. 

Commonly referred to as the Ike, the expressway was built during the early interstate era and serves as one of Chicago’s most prominent urban freeways. 

Formerly known as the Congress Expressway as it followed Congress Street, now Ida B. Wells Drive, into downtown Chicago, it was renamed to commemorate Eisenhower, who championed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. 

Ronald Reagan Turnpike (Florida’s Turnpike)

Florida’s most important north-south corridor was renamed in honor of the 40th president in 1998 after originally named the Sunshine State Parkway.  The major toll road runs 312 miles from Miami Gardens to Wildwood, Florida, and offers safe and convenient passage to many of the state’s major thoroughfares. 

The turnpike connects 11 counties in the state’s peninsula and incorporates several expressways, with future facilities under construction or in planning that will extend the road to more than 500 miles, according to Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise. 

John F. Kennedy Expressway 

The expressway primarily carries Interstates 90, 94 and 190 from downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world. It serves as a critical artery through the city, seeing as many as 327,000 vehicles per day — making it one of the Midwest’s busiest highway corridors. 

Originally named the Northwest Expressway for the direction it traveled from downtown, the expressway was renamed after John F. Kennedy shortly after his assassination in 1963. 

It was a pioneer of reversible express lanes, which change direction to accommodate the flow of rush-hour traffic — something that was relatively uncommon when the highway opened in 1960. 

A Road Map of Presidential Legacy 

From the country’s earliest cross-country routes to some of today’s busiest urban expressways, these presidential roadways reflect more than names on a map. They show how transportation infrastructure can preserve history, shape regional growth and connect modern drivers to the leaders whose legacies helped define the nation’s path forward.