| Theodore Roosevelt International Highway | |
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Length: | 4,060 mi[2] (6,530 km) |
| Existed: | January 6, 1919[1] – after 1930s[2] |
| Major junctions | |
| East end: | Portland, Maine |
| West end: | Portland, Oregon |
| Location | |
| States: | Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon |
| Highway system | |
| Auto Trails | |
The Theodore Roosevelt International Highway was a transcontinental North American highway through the United States and Canada that ran from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. Its length was about 4,060 miles (6,530 km).
The highway left Maine through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Green Mountains of Vermont to cross Lake Champlain by ferry into New York. The highway went through Ontario from Niagara Falls to Windsor and from Detroit through Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Duluth, Minnesota, and then through North Dakota and Montana. The highway passed through northern Idaho and Yakima, Washington, to follow the Columbia River into Oregon.[3] U.S. Route 2 (US 2) was numbered along similar routing though the United States in 1926; although neither Portland was included.[1] The eastern end of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway was designated US 302 in 1935, and is still known locally as the Roosevelt Trail.[3]
In Michigan, the highway had a northern loop route in the Upper Peninsula. Between St. Ignace and Wakefield, the northern route followed was is now M-123 and M-28 while the southern route followed the rough path of today's US 2.[2]
The highway was designated as a memorial following Theodore Roosevelt's death on January 6, 1919.[1] Michigan completed its section of the highway in the middle of 1926.[2] A 56-mile (90 km) portion of the highway over the continental divide through Marias Pass in northwestern Montana was not completed until 1930. Automobiles were carried over the pass in Great Northern Railway cars until the highway was finished.[4] Dedication ceremonies for the full route were held in Montana four months after the completion of the highway. The name has fallen into disuse after the 1930s with the 1926 designation of the United States Numbered Highway System that replaced much of its routing with numbered highway designations.[2]