The Historic Route 20 Association Inc., (Historic Route 20) is pleased to announce its relocation to Seneca Falls in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.
The nonprofit aims to raise the profiles of the communities along the original 1926 alignments of US Route 20 -the longest highway in America from Boston to Newport, OR. In 2021, the organization successfully obtained a State Historic Auto Trail designation across Iowa’s old Route 20 and has been leading efforts in other states such a Massachusetts and Oregon.
The organization has been working with the City of Canandaigua and other villages across the route in New York to gain support for a legislatively designated Historic Auto Trail. This designation would allow for signage to be placed on the state highways. Wayfinding signage indicating the original Route 20 is important to draw people back into the downtown areas like Auburn, Geneva and Canandaigua which have all seen bypasses built and those like Waterloo and Geneva where the highway has remained unchanged.
While 5 & 20 is the popular route across the northern Finger Lakes, the organization looks at the whole of the route which is 3365 miles long. A small town of 200 may have hard time attracting visitors but when you connect it along one route, you are bridging all the communities, small businesses, historic sites and more into one travel destination.
“When many think of the great American road trip, Route 66 come to mind first”, but Farr likes to reiterate that “most of what can be seen on Route 66, can be seen on Route 20 and Route 20 is still continuous across the country”.
The organizations new headquarters will be located at 17 Bridge Street in Seneca Falls, within the newly established Local FLX shop. Historic Route 20 and will operate an information center complete with maps, guides, and items pertaining to Route 20. An open house is scheduled for July 15-17 (Convention Days).
Historic Route 20 is a 501-c-3 not for profit organization and relies on donations, grants and memberships for its operations. Information can be found at the organization’s website.
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