The National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the 620-mile (1,000 km) road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers. When improved in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam.
Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, first settled in 1785 as the site of a trading post a few years after the pacification of the Iroquois enabled a post-Revolutionary war resumption of westward migration. The Trading Post soon became a tavern and Inn, and was soon receiving emigrants heading west as it was located above the cut bank overlooking first ford that could be reached to those descending from the Mountains. Brownsville is located 40 miles (64 km) south of Pittsburgh along the east bank of the Monongahela River.
West Brownsville is a former important transportation nexus and a present-day borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States and part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 972 at the 2020 census. Culturally, by postal route, and socially, the community is connected to cross-river sister-city Brownsville, for the two were long joined by the Amerindian trail known as Nemacolin's Path that became a wagon road after the American Revolution, but West Brownsville is a separate municipality. Brownsville was the first point where the descent from the Appalachians could safely reach the river down the generally steep banks of the Monongahela River. Between Brownsville and West Brownsville was a shallow stretch, usable as a river ford astride a major Emigrant Trail to the various attractive regions in the Northwest Territory, the first National Road, the Cumberland Pike.
The Smithfield Street Bridge is a lenticular truss bridge crossing the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Monongahela Incline is a funicular located near the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Designed and built by Prussian-born engineer John Endres in 1870, it is the oldest continuously operating funicular in the United States.
The Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge, officially the Veterans Memorial Bridge, spans the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, and carries Pennsylvania Route 462 and BicyclePA Route S. Built originally as the Lancaster-York Intercounty Bridge, construction began in 1929, and the bridge opened September 30, 1930. On November 11, 1980, it was officially dedicated as Veterans Memorial Bridge, though it is still referenced locally as the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge.
The West End Bridge is a steel tied-arch bridge over the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) below the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. It connects the West End to the Chateau neighborhood on the North Side of Pittsburgh.
Dunlap's Creek Bridge was the first arch bridge in the United States built of cast iron. It was designed by Richard Delafield and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Constructed from 1836 to 1839 on the National Road in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, it remains in use today. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (1978). It is located in the Brownsville Commercial Historic District and supports Market Street, the local main thoroughfare. Due to the steep sides of the Monongahela River valley, there is only room for two short streets parallel to the river's shore and graded mild enough to be comfortable to walk before the terrain rises too steeply for business traffic.
U.S. Route 40 enters Pennsylvania at West Alexander. It closely parallels Interstate 70 (I-70) from West Virginia until it reaches Washington where it follows Jefferson Avenue and Maiden Street. In Washington, US 40 passes to the south of Washington & Jefferson College. Following Maiden Street out of town, the road turns southeast toward the town of California. A short limited access highway in California and West Brownsville provides an approach to the Lane Bane Bridge across the Monongahela River. From here, the road continues southeast to Uniontown.
The Washington Crossing Bridge, commonly known as the Fortieth Street Bridge, is an arch bridge that carries vehicular traffic across the Allegheny River between the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville and the suburb of Millvale.
The Donora-Webster Bridge was a truss bridge spanning the Monongahela River between the borough of Donora, Pennsylvania and the village of Webster in Rostraver Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1908 to serve rail traffic, the bridge was eventually fully converted in 1938 for automobile use only.. The structure connected Route 837 on the west bank of the river and Route 906 on the east side. The closest open crossings are at Route 1022 to the south (upstream), and the Route 136 to the north (downstream), a several-mile detour either way. On July 1, 2015 the bridge was demolished after being closed for several years due to severe structural deficiency.
The West Brownsville Junction Bridge carries the Norfolk Southern Railway across the Monongahela River from Brownsville Township to West Brownsville in the state of Pennsylvania. The main span is a 401-foot (122 m) Pennsylvania (Petit) truss. The structure was originally designed by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a low-level connector between its mainline and Waynesburg Branch. Today, the bridge continues to serve the same purpose that it has since its inception, carrying coal trains between mines and power plants or other industrial sites.
The Lane Bane Bridge is a truss bridge that carries vehicular traffic across the Monongahela River between Brownsville, Pennsylvania and West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The high level bridge was completed in November 1962 and was originally designed to be part of the Mon-Fayette Expressway. A 3 miles (4.8 km) freeway segment stretches from the west bank of the bridge, and a final exit is contained directly on the eastern shore. The structure is designed not only to provide a river crossing without having to enter the associated deep valley, but it also carries vehicles high above the main streets of West Brownsville.
The Charleroi-Monessen Bridge, officially the John K. Tener Memorial Bridge, is a two lane structure spanning the Monongahela River. The bridge connects North Charleroi in Washington County, Pennsylvania and Monessen in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The structure connects Route 88 on the west bank of the river and Route 906 on the east side. The bridge, which opened in 2013, replaced a 1906 structure. The original bridge was closed in 2009 due to structural deficiency.
The 1820s Malden Inn and John Krepps Tavern is a historic building in the unincorporated bedroom community of Malden, Pennsylvania at the junction of South Malden Road and Old U.S. Route 40 (US40), the historic Cumberland Pike. The Inn's Malden location along the western part of the Amerindian trail known as Nemacolin's Path transformed into a wagon road linking the river ford between Brownsville–West Brownsville with the former frontier towns of Washington, Pennsylvania and Wheeling, West Virginia, where the Emigrant Trail then allowed an easy crossing the Ohio River. The Inn had a good commercial site astride the old National Pike about three miles west of the long climb up from West Brownsville and Denbo Heights, PA being located at the former junction of Malden Road connecting northwards to Coal Center and California situated about half-the-way to Centerville from the Brownsville ford and the ferry terminus below Blainsburg just North-northeast of West Brownsville.
The Masontown Bridge is a four-lane concrete plate girder bridge that carries vehicular traffic across the Monongahela River between Masontown, Pennsylvania and Monongahela Township, Greene County, Pennsylvania by way of Pennsylvania Route 21.
The Mon–Fayette Expressway Bridge, officially the Ronald C. "Smokey" Bakewell Bridge is a high-level girder bridge that carries vehicular traffic across the Monongahela River between Luzerne Township in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and Centerville in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
The unincorporated hamlet of Malden is a bedroom community along the historic 'Old National Pike' (1811) within borough of Centerville Washington County, Pennsylvania. Malden was a historical wagon stop amidst farms during the early 19th century surge of westward migration to settle the Northwest Territory after 1790.
The Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge is a through truss bridge spanning the Colorado River in Yuma, Arizona. Built in 1915, it was the first highway crossing of the lower Colorado and is the earliest example of a through truss bridge in Arizona. It is also the only example of a Pennsylvania truss within Arizona. Originally the bridge carried the transcontinental Ocean-to-Ocean Highway and later carried its successor, US 80 until a new bridge was built to the west in 1956. Between 1988 and 2001, the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic and only traversable by pedestrians and bicyclists. After a major restoration, the bridge was rehabilitated and reopened to vehicular traffic in 2002, with a re-dedication by the Quechan nation and Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area. The bridge became part of Historic US 80 in 2018.
