Editing National Road (section)

==History==

===Braddock Road===
The [[Braddock Road (Route 40)|Braddock Road]] had been opened by the [[Ohio Company]] in 1751 between [[Fort Cumberland (Maryland)|Fort Cumberland]], the limit of navigation on the upper [[Potomac River]], and the French military station at [[Fort Duquesne]] at the forks of the [[Ohio River]], (at the confluence of the [[Allegheny River|Allegheny]] and [[Monongahela River]]s), an important trading and military point where the city of [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]] now stands. It received its name during the colonial-era [[French and Indian War]] of 1753–1763 (also known as the [[Seven Years' War]] in Europe), when it was constructed by British [[Edward Braddock|General Edward Braddock]], who was accompanied by Colonel [[George Washington]] of the [[Virginia]] militia regiment in the ill-fated July 1755 [[Braddock expedition]], an attempt to assault the French-held Fort Duquesne.

===Cumberland Road===
[[File:Cumberland-national-road-marker-riverside-park2012.jpg|thumb|upright|Marker at the start of the Cumberland National Road]]
Construction of the Cumberland Road (which later became part of the longer National Road) was authorized on March 29, 1806, by [[United States Congress|Congress]]. The new Cumberland Road would replace the wagon and foot paths of the Braddock Road for travel between the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, following roughly the same alignment until just east of [[Uniontown, Pennsylvania]]. From there, where the Braddock Road turned north towards Pittsburgh, the new National Road/Cumberland Road continued west to [[Wheeling, Virginia]] (now [[West Virginia]]), also on the Ohio River.

The contract for the construction of the first section was awarded to Henry McKinley on May 8, 1811,<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.cumberlandroadproject.com/federal/cumberland-road-contracts1.php |title = Original Contract Information For the Construction of the Cumberland Road / National Road – 1811 to 1812 |publisher = The Cumberland Road Project |date = February 16, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141013071115/http://www.cumberlandroadproject.com/federal/cumberland-road-contracts1.php |archive-date = October 13, 2014 |url-status = usurped |access-date = February 12, 2016 }}</ref> and construction began later that year, with the road reaching Wheeling on August 1, 1818. For more than 100 years, a simple granite stone was the only marker of the road's beginning in Cumberland, Maryland. In June 2012, a monument and plaza were built in that town's Riverside Park, next to the historic original starting point.

Beyond the National Road's eastern terminus at Cumberland and toward the [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]] coast, a series of private [[Toll road|toll roads and turnpikes]] were constructed, connecting the National Road (also known as the [[Old National Pike (disambiguation)|Old National Pike]]) with Baltimore, then the third-largest city in the country, and a major maritime port on [[Chesapeake Bay]]. Completed in 1824, these feeder routes formed what is referred to as an eastern extension of the federal National Road.

===Westward extension===
[[File:Wheeling Suspension Bridge west approach Wheeling Island West Virginia.jpg|thumb|left|The Wheeling Suspension Bridge across the Ohio River was completed in 1849 and was still in use by local traffic until its closure on September 24, 2019. The bridge is now limited to pedestrians only.]]

On May 15, 1820, Congress authorized an extension of the road to St. Louis, on the Mississippi River, and on March 3, 1825, across the Mississippi and to [[Jefferson City, Missouri]]. Work on the extension between Wheeling and [[Zanesville, Ohio]], used the pre-existing [[Zane's Trace]] of [[Ebenezer Zane]], and was completed in 1833 to the new [[state capital]] of [[Columbus, Ohio]], and in 1838 to the college town of [[Springfield, Ohio]].

In 1849, a bridge was completed to carry the National Road across the Ohio River at Wheeling. The [[Wheeling Suspension Bridge]], designed by [[Charles Ellet Jr.]], was at the time the world's longest bridge span at {{convert|1010|ft|m}} from tower to tower.

===Transfer to states===
[[File:Alt US&nbsp;40 Cumberland Narrows.jpg|thumb|The [[Cumberland Narrows]] west of Cumberland, part of the realigned routing]]
Maintenance costs on the Cumberland Road were becoming more than Congress was willing to bear. In agreements with Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, the road was to be reconstructed and resurfaced. The section that ran over [[Haystack Mountain (Maryland)|Haystack Mountain]], just west of Cumberland, was abandoned and a new road was built through the [[Cumberland Narrows]].

On April 1, 1835, the section from Wheeling to Cumberland was transferred to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia (now West Virginia). The last congressional [[Appropriation (law)|appropriation]] was made May 25, 1838, and in 1840, Congress voted against completing the unfinished portion of the road, with the deciding vote being cast by [[Henry Clay]]. By that time, railroads were beginning to compete for long-distance transportation. The [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] was being built west from Baltimore to Cumberland, mostly along the Potomac River, which was a more direct route than the National Road across the [[Allegheny Plateau]] of West Virginia (then Virginia) to Wheeling. Construction of the National Road stopped in 1839. Portions of the road through Indiana and Illinois remained unpaved or otherwise rudimentary and were transferred to the states.

Federal construction of the road stopped at [[Vandalia, Illinois]], which at that time was the state's capital. Illinois officials decided not to continue construction without the federal funds because two state roads from Vandalia to the St. Louis area, today's US&nbsp;40 and [[Illinois Route 140]] (known then as the [[Alton, Illinois|Alton]] Road), already existed.<ref>{{Cite news |last = Selbert |first = Pamela |date = May 30, 2004 |title = A drive into the past on the Illinois National Road |language = en-US |work = Chicago Tribune |url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-05-30-0405300379-story.html |access-date = May 7, 2020 }}</ref>

===Subsequent events===
[[File:Madonna-of-the-Trail-Illino.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Madonna of the Trail]]'' monument along the Old National Road in Vandalia, Illinois]]
In 1912, the National Road was chosen to become part of the [[National Old Trails Road]], which would extend further east to New York City and west to [[Los Angeles, California]]. Five ''[[Madonna of the Trail]]'' monuments, donated by the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]], were erected along the Old Trails Road.

In 1927, the National Road was designated as the eastern part of US&nbsp;40, which still generally follows the National Road's alignment with occasional bypasses, realignments, and newer bridges. The mostly parallel [[Interstate 70]] (I-70) now provides a faster route for through travel without the many sharp curves, steep grades, and narrow bridges of US&nbsp;40 and other segments of the National Road. Heading west from [[Hancock, Maryland|Hancock]] in western Maryland, I-70 takes a more northerly path to connect with and follow the [[Pennsylvania Turnpike]] (also designated as [[Interstate 76 (east)|I-76]]) across the mountains between [[Breezewood, Pennsylvania|Breezewood]] and [[New Stanton, Pennsylvania|New Stanton]], where I-70 turns west to rejoin the National Road's route (and US&nbsp;40) near [[Washington, Pennsylvania]].

The more recently constructed [[Interstate 68|I-68]] parallels the old road from Hancock through Cumberland west to [[Keyser's Ridge, Maryland]], where the National Road and US&nbsp;40 turn northwest into Pennsylvania, but I-68 continues directly west to meet [[Interstate 79|I-79]] near [[Morgantown, West Virginia]]. The portion of I-68 in Maryland is designated as the National Freeway.

===Historical structures===
[[File:CardCasselman014.jpg|thumb|The [[Casselman Bridge|Casselman River Bridge]] in western Maryland, completed in 1814]]
[[File:National Road marker, Columbus, OH 01.jpg|thumb|Mile marker along the National Road in [[Columbus, Ohio]]]]

Many of the National Road's original stone [[arch bridge]]s also remain on former alignments, including:
* [[Casselman Bridge, National Road|Casselman River Bridge]] near [[Grantsville, Maryland]]{{snd}}Built in 1813–1814 to carry the road across the [[Casselman River]], it was the longest single-span stone arch bridge in America at the time. 
* [[Great Crossings Bridge]] near [[Confluence, Pennsylvania]]—built in 1818 to carry the road over the [[Youghiogheny River]]—the bridge, and the adjacent town of Somerfield, Pennsylvania (which was [[Demolition|razed]]) are under the waters of [[Youghiogheny River Lake]] (though still visible at times of extremely low water levels).<ref>{{cite news |last = Lowry |first = Patricia |title = A bridge to the 19th century: Falling water-level of Youghiogheny unearths ghost town, historical crossing |date = January 7, 1999 |work = The [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |url = http://old.post-gazette.com/magazine/19990107bridge3.asp |access-date = July 17, 2017 }}</ref>
Another remaining National Road bridge is the [[Wheeling Suspension Bridge]] at [[Wheeling, West Virginia]]. Opened in 1849 to carry the road over the [[Ohio River]], it was the [[List of largest suspension bridges|largest suspension bridge]] in the world until 1851, and until 2019 was the oldest vehicular [[suspension bridge]] in the United States still in use, although it has since been closed to vehicular traffic due to repeated overweight vehicles ignoring the weight limits and damaging the bridge. A newer bridge now carries the realigned US&nbsp;40 and [[Interstate 70 in West Virginia|I-70]] across the river nearby.

Three of the road's original toll houses are preserved:
* [[La Vale Tollgate House]], in [[La Vale, Maryland]]
* [[Petersburg Tollhouse]], in [[Addison, Pennsylvania]]
* [[Searights Tollhouse, National Road|Searights Tollhouse]], near [[Uniontown, Pennsylvania]]
Additionally, several [[Old National Pike Milestones]]—some well-maintained, others deteriorating, and yet others represented by modern replacements—remain intact along the route.