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PA 100 (Pottstown Pike) to Penna Turnpike – Pottstown, West Chester: West Whiteland Township: 50.29: 80.93: US 30 west (Exton Bypass) – Downingtown US 202 – King of Prussia, West Chester US 30 Bus. ends: Interchange; eastern terminus of US 30 Bus.; west end of US 30 overlap: Frazer: 51.65: 83.12
1791-1936: Before there was a PA Turnpike In the late 1700s, Pennsylvanians traveled by horse and carriage over log-surfaced roads and muddy terrain. By the 1800’s, they could travel across Pennsylvania by railroads and canals.
On October 1, 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened to traffic and ushered in a new era of transportation. The original Turnpike spanned from Middlesex in Cumberland County to Irwin in Westmoreland County and consisted of 160 miles of four-lane-all-concrete highway, seven tunnels, eleven interchanges and ten service plazas.
Apr 8, 2020 · Local History. America’s first toll road: The Philadelphia & Lancaster Turnpike. April 8, 2020. unchartedadam. 3 Comments. Early Pennsylvania Roads. When European settlers first arrived in Pennsylvania, they found the land crisscrossed by a maze of trails created by Native Americans stretching in every direction.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike turned 75 on Thursday. America’s first superhighway changed Pennsylvania’s landscape significantly. Breezewood, Pennsylvania has been called the “town of motels,” the “travelers’ oasis,” and, most colorfully , “an Emerald City to the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s yellow brick road.”
The majority of the route from Pottstown to Philadelphia followed historic Ridge Pike and Germantown Pike (As of 2023, the overpass of Ridge Pike over the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-276) is still labeled with a designation of "U.S. 422"). In 1932, the western terminus was extended from Reading to Market Street in downtown Harrisburg.
It is important to note that the first engineered turnpike in the United States was the 62-mile privately constructed toll road, the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, built between 1793 and 1795 to connect Philadelphia to Lancaster, but was later replaced by a canal in the 1800s.
