The National Road, sometimes called the Cumberland Road or the Old Pike, ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. The Illinois portion of the road was begun in 1830 and opened in the summer of 1838. It extended 89 miles from the Indiana line to Vandalia. Before the advent of the railroads, the National Road was one of the great arteries for westward migration. U.S. Route 40, constructed in the 1920's, and Interstate 70, completed in the 1970's, parallel the bed of the old pike, and U.S. 40 at some points is identical with it. From here the old pike was a half mile north.