The Old National Road, proposed by George Washington to open a path for development of the Northwest Territory, was begun in 1806 in Cumberland, Maryland. It was surveyed through Indiana in 1827 and built through Terre Haute in 1834. This pioneer corridor of American history became paved U.S. 40 in 1926 and was completed coast to coast by 1935. In Terre Haute as Wabash Avenue, it intersected the original U.S. 41, the nation's major north-south highway, at this site.