OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Douglas County will close a stretch of Old Lincoln Highway for the winter in an effort to protect the longest-remaining original brick stretch of the nation’s first coast-to-coast highway.

The county will ban traffic on the historic three-mile stretch of brick road that runs from 174th Street west to 201st Street after the first snow deep enough to plow. Douglas County engineering manager Dan Kutilek says it will then remain closed through March.

The Douglas County Board approved the plan, which calls for the historic highway to be closed every winter.

Kutilek says salting, applying brine and plowing snow takes a heavy toll on the old road, eating away at its concrete base and chipping away at the bricks.