At Blairsville, bridges over the Conemaugh River carried the Northern Turnpike, now the William Penn Highway. The first bridge, erected from 1821 to 1823 by the Conemaugh Bridge Company, had the longest single arch in the United States at 300 feet, served as a toll bridge until 1865, and fell in 1874. A second steel bridge, erected from 1874 to 1875 on the same abutments, was destroyed by the Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. A third steel bridge, erected in 1889 on the same abutments, was abandoned in 1935. The present bridge was erected from 1934 to 1935 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania north of the old site.