Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike

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File:Lancaster Road.jpg

Old Lancaster Road and Lancaster Avenue in Lower Merion Township

The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, first used in 1795, is the first long-distance paved road built in the United States, according to engineered plans and specifications. It links Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia at 34th Street, stretching for sixty-two miles. It was later extended by the Lancaster and Susquehanna Turnpike to the Susquehanna River in Columbia. The route is now designated Pennsylvania Route 462 from the western terminus to US 30 just southeast of Lancaster, at which point US 30 (and US 30 Business in Chester County) follows the route to Philadelphia. The US 30 portion ends at Girard Avenue in the Parkside neighborhood of Philadelphia, where State Route 3012 is designated on the road to Belmont Avenue. At Belmont Avenue, the road changes designation to State Route 3005 and runs to the eastern terminus at 34th Street. Historically, Lancaster Pike terminated at Market Street before Drexel University took over the stretch between 32nd and 34th Streets and turned the road into a pedestrian walkway known as Lancaster Walk.

File:Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road 1795.jpg

Share of the "Company of the Lancaster and Turnpike Road", issued 16 March 1795

It was the first turnpike of importance, and because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania could not afford to pay for its construction, it was privately built by the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company, making it an early example of a public-private partnership for American infrastructure. Credited as the country's first engineered road, its ground was broken in 1792. By the 1840s, the use of railroads and canals dealt a serious blow to the companies who specialized in the manufacture of wagons and coaches. During the next fifty years, the road suffered from lack of use and maintenance, but later saw recovery with the invention of the automobile.

File:Lancaster Avenue end.jpg

Near the end at 34th Street. Lancaster Avenue ends as a road, but continues as the “Lancaster Walk” pedestrian walkway on the campus of Drexel University

In 1876, the parallel Pennsylvania Railroad bought the turnpike from 52nd Street in Philadelphia west to Paoli for $20,000 (equal to $ today) to prevent competing streetcar companies from building along it. In 1913, the turnpike became part of the transcontinental Lincoln Highway, and tolls continued to be collected until 1917, when the State Highway Department bought it for $165,000, equal to $ today. In 1926 it was designated as part of U.S. Route 30 along with the rest of the original United States Numbered Highways.

Major intersections

Montgomery
No major junctions Delaware
No major junctions

See also

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• Great Wagon Road
• Lincoln Highway
• "The Colossus", 1813 bridge

External links

• Pennsylvania Highways: US 30
• Lancaster Avenue: Turn of the Millennium. Photographs along the Lancaster Turnpike in Philadelphia.