# The "Christopher Columbus Highway" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 23, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742 "2016-08-23T16:55:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/21 "2016-08-24T19:32:56Z")
I-80 and US 50 are freeways here in the Sacramento area. Highway 40 is a surface street that runs parallel to 80 and several miles north of 50. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/22 "2016-08-24T21:21:49Z")
At least in Ohio, “since when” is 1977, there was [a state law](http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5533.31v1). As in [Michigan](http://law.onecle.com/michigan/250-highways/mcl-250-1031.html) since 2001 but that’s for a different road. Pretty recent, really. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/23 "2016-08-24T21:24:04Z")
Wasn’t the pro-Columbus stuff intended to be a symbol of Italian-American pride, not a slur against Natives? [Link](http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/10/08/italian-americans-plan-push-back-on-dumping-of-columbus-day/) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/24 "2016-08-24T23:59:59Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Wasn’t the pro-Columbus stuff intended to be a symbol of Italian-American pride, not a slur against Natives? [Link](http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/10/08/italian-americans-plan-push-back-on-dumping-of-columbus-day/) I’m pretty sure it was a nod for the 1990 hit _Home Alone_. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/25 "2016-08-25T04:23:49Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > New Jersey - I-80 Express, Christopher Columbus Highway > Pennsylvania - Christopher Columbus Highway > Ohio - Ohio Turnpike > Indiana - Indiana Toll Road > Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska - Christopher Columbus Highway > Wyoming - Lincoln Highway > Utah (eastern) - Lincoln Highway > Utah (western) Christopher Columbus Highway > Nevada - Christopher Columbus Highway > California - Alan S. Hart Freeway, Dwight D Eisenhower Highway, Lincoln Highway > > So, it looks like it has a lot of names but there’s certainly some affinity for Christopher Columbus. I regular drive I-80, and have gone as far as San Francisco to Elko. Although I am concentrating on driving, I have never seen any Columbus signs in NV, nor Eisenhower (Google tells me that Eisenhower refers to a network of multiple freeways, and the whole length from SF to Cheyenne of 80 is officially part of that, but I remember zero signs). Nor Lincoln Highway, although Google tells me that’s defunct and only refers to short stretch of 80 that overlap it. The only name I remember seeing is Alan S. Hart, but I can’t remember exactly where the signs are, though it’s supposed to be Sacramento to NV. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/26 "2016-08-25T05:10:09Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > At least in Ohio, “since when” is 1977, there was [a state law](http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5533.31v1). I believe that since then, the state has banned public funds from being used to put up commemorative freeway name signs. So a lot of those names now only exist in the law. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/27 "2016-08-25T06:34:34Z")
I was on a road some while back that identified itself as “The Highway of the Grand Army of the Republic”. Needless to say, that made me a bit uneasy. Kept checking in my mirrors. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/28 "2016-08-25T07:06:20Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I was on a road some while back that identified itself as “The Highway of the Grand Army of the Republic”. Needless to say, that made me a bit uneasy. Kept checking in my mirrors. Wouldn’t want them to liberate your truckload of slaves? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742/29 "2016-08-25T10:46:29Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Wouldn’t want them to liberate your truckload of slaves? Kinda puts that line in Little Feat’s _Willin’_ in a whole creepy new light… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-christopher-columbus-highway/763742.md?page=1)