and earlier, American highways were disorganized affairs of widely varying quality. Highways were known by a bewildering variety of names which typically changed at each town. And they were only named, not numbered. During the 1910s the first national highway was conceived: the Lincoln Highway, named in honor of Abraham Lincoln, stretching across the northern United States from coast to coast. A companion effort was launched to create a transcontinental highway stretching across the southern half of the country, this one named in honor of Confederate States of America general Robert E. Lee. The two highways were a revolution of sorts, in that a driver could follow a single road from coast to coast bearing the same designation. Much of today's U.S. 70 was formerly the Lee Highway, although that was later removed. When originally commissioned on 11 November 1926, U.S. Route 70 ran between Beaufort, North Carolina and U.S. Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona. This older route ran from present day US 70 in Clovis, New Mexico through Vaughn, Willard (where former child route U.S. Route 470 branched off to Albuquerque) and Springerville, Arizona before finally reaching US 66 in Holbrook. In 1932, US 70 was rerouted to El Paso, Texas from Clovis along what is today U.S. Route 54. The re-routing temporarily removed US 70 entirely from Arizona. The old route to Holbrook was replaced by U.S. Route 60 and U.S. Route 260. That same year, the eastern terminus of US 70 was extended to Atlantic, North Carolina, where it remains to this day (albeit in a slightly different location). In 1934, the routing was changed yet again and US 70 was rerouted to California through Las Cruces, New Mexico, Deming, Globe, Arizona and Phoenix to a junction with U.S. Route 99 around Mecca. Between Globe and its new western end in California, US 70 was paired with US 60. A year later, US 70 was extended along Valley Boulevard and reached downtown Los Angeles at U.S. Route 101 running concurrent with US 99 and/or US 60 throughout its course west of Globe. Beginning in 1964 it was decommissioned in favor of Interstate 10 or US 60. After being removed from California, US 70 ended at the California/Arizona state line in Ehrenberg until 1969, when it was further truncated to its current endpoint in Globe. US 70, unlike many other decommissioned US Highways in California, doesn't have a