Early Gwinnett and adjacent counties were home to two important U.S. Army forts: Fort Daniel on Hog Mountain and Fort Gilmer along the Chattahoochee River, more commonly called the fort at the standing peach tree. During the War of 1812, a road connecting the forts was constructed along the elevated, level ridge line of the Eastern Continental Divide. What began as a native Cherokee and Creek trail became Atlanta's Peachtree Road and inspired many other roads to incorporate the Peachtree name. With limited roadways and no navigable rivers, Gwinnett was accessible only by horseback, buggy, or on foot until after the Civil War, and the Hightower Trail on the boundary of DeKalb County and Gwinnett County was a popular foot route during Georgia's frontier period. Beginning in 1871 with construction of the Danville and Piedmont Air Line, the county's first railroads linked Gwinnett to surrounding counties and commercial centers, and prosperous new cities including Buford, Duluth, Norcross, and Suwanee emerged along the rail line as their economies grew. In 1949, construction of metro Atlanta's interstate system began, and each new section of Interstate 85 brought commercial development and success as well as traffic and congestion. In 1965, I-85 was completed, and Gwinnett County Transit was formed in 2000 to provide service between larger local cities and downtown Atlanta. After cooperative efforts between agencies, legislation passed in 2018 set the stage for coordinated transit across metro Atlanta.