page_title: U.S. Route 12 in Indiana
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Route 12 in Indiana / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Dunes Highway Historic Marker located at U.S. 12 and Indiana 49
context_page_description: U.S. Route 12 is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan. In the U.S. state of Indiana, it is part of the state road system. US 12 enters the state concurrent with US 20 and US 41 in Whiting. The 45.16 miles of US 12 that lie within Indiana serve as a major conduit. Some of the highway is listed on the National Highway System. Various sections are rural two-lane highway, urbanized four-lane undivided highway and one-way streets. The easternmost community along the highway is Michiana Shores at the Michigan state line.
  US 12 passes through urban areas and wood lands, parallel to the Lake Michigan shoreline. The highway is included in the Lake Michigan Circle Tour and passes through Indiana Dunes National Park. Historical landmarks along the highway include the Miller Town Hall, Beverly Shores South Shore Railroad Station and the Old Michigan City Lighthouse. A memorial highway designations have been applied to the route since 1917, named for the Civil War Union Army unit.
  US 12 was first designated as a US Highway in 1926, concurrent with US 20 west of Michigan City.
context_section_description: The Old Chicago Road was an important road from 1900 to 1910; it was later renamed the Dunes Highway.  The Dunes Highway Association engineers envisioned the Dunes Highway a "state of the art" 40-foot-wide (12 m) concrete highway with a 100-foot (30 m) right-of-way.  In August 1919, Commission director H.L. Wright tentatively designated the Dunes Highway as State Road 43, to be 20 feet (6.1 m) wide. Narrower than anticipated, the new concrete highway was still superior to most Indiana roads, which in the mid-1920s were gravel or dirt with paved sections only between the larger towns.  Dunes Highway construction began in 1922 under the guidance of Gary contractor Ingwald Moe and construction engineer Ezra Sensibar.
  The designation was changed to US 12 and US 20 in 1926 when the U.S. Highway system was created.  The two routes were concurrent from Illinois to Michigan City, with the rest in Indiana as only being US 12. In 1930, US 20 was moved to a new alignment south of US 12.  This left US 12 on its current alignment without US 20. The route did not change between 1931 and 2002, with only work being maintenance.  Then in 2003, the state of Indiana rerouted US 12 onto SR 912 from Columbus Drive to US 20. The route was changed to make room for the Gary/Chicago International Airport runway expansion project.
caption: Dunes Highway Historic marker at U.S. 12 and Indiana 49
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