The National Road crosses six states from Baltimore, Maryland, to East St. Louis, Illinois. It fulfilled the dreams of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for an all-weather route across the Allegheny Mountains linking the Eastern Seaboard with the Midwest. Conceived by Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson, and authorized by Congress in 1806, it became the nation's first federally funded interstate highway and opened the West to the movement of people and goods. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland, extending an earlier route from Baltimore; by 1818 it reached the Ohio River, by 1833 it was completed to Columbus, Ohio, and by 1850 it extended west to Vandalia, Illinois. An engineering marvel, it featured graceful stone arch bridges over streams and rivers, while inns and taverns served travelers. Many bridges and buildings from the road's early days still stand in towns along its route, much of the historic road remains part of U.S. Route 40, and some original segments no longer used as highways can still be explored. Its longest surviving section is in Ohio, stretching 237 miles from Bridgeport eastward to the Indiana state line.
