US 20 and US 33 on the city streets

1924–1998 · THE EAST–WEST HIGHWAYS

The east–west highway left town twice — once by a straighter street, once by the parkway: The road west from South Bend to Michigan City was designated State Road 25 in 1923, on the Michigan Road's original line through New Carlisle. In October 1924 the State Highway Commission relocated it: the South Bend Tribune of 3 October 1924 reported the state road moved onto "Division street extended" — the street now called Western Avenue — a straighter line urged on the state by the federal government as a military road, shortening the South Bend–to–Rolling Prairie run by a mile and a half and shedding a dangerous grade crossing at New Carlisle; state maintenance was withdrawn from the old line through New Carlisle and Bootjack. At the Great Renumbering of 1 October 1926 the relocated State Road 25 became US 20.

The number has been restless on this ground ever since: US 20 was rerouted back to the old road east of Rolling Prairie in 1932, moved again in 1940–41, the superseded line carried the number State Road 220 from 1945 to 1953, and the present US 20–State Road 2 junction west of the city dates to 1963. Through the city itself US 20 ran on the streets — Lincolnway West and Western Avenue west of downtown, Lincolnway East through Mishawaka toward Elkhart — and it did so until 1998, when the completed St. Joseph Valley Parkway took the through route and the downtown routing was decommissioned. A second east–west number shared the pavement for sixty years: US 33, created in 1938 running with US 31 from South Bend north to St. Joseph, Michigan, ran west through the city along Lincoln Way through Mishawaka and South Bend on the present State Road 933 line; it was truncated to its junction with US 20 at Elkhart on 5 April 1998, the same season the parkway finished the work of clearing the through highways off the city streets.

Sources:

1. Indiana Transportation History, "The Lincoln Highway, The Michigan Road and Rolling Prairie" (2019) — the 1923 State Road 25 designation, the October 1924 relocation onto Division Street extended (South Bend Tribune, 3 October 1924) as a federally urged military road, the 1.5-mile shortening and the withdrawn maintenance on the New Carlisle–Bootjack line, the 1926 renumbering to US 20, the 1932 and 1940–41 moves, State Road 220 (1945–1953), and the 1963 US 20–State Road 2 junction.
2. The Indiana route record — US 20 through downtown South Bend and Elkhart until the parkway's completion in 1998 and the decommissioning of the downtown route; US 20 once signed along State Road 2 west of South Bend and State Road 933/old US 33 between South Bend and Elkhart.
3. The US 33 route record — created 1938 with US 31 from South Bend to St. Joseph, Michigan; west along Lincoln Way on present State Road 933; truncated to US 20 at Elkhart on 5 April 1998.