The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, first used in 1795, is the first long-distance

paved road A road surface (British English) or pavement (North American English) is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, macadam, ho ...

built in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, according to engineered plans and specifications. It links

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster ( ) is a city in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 58,039 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, eighth-most populous ci ...

, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

at 34th Street, stretching for sixty-two miles. It was later extended by the Lancaster and Susquehanna Turnpike to the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

in Columbia. The route is now designated Pennsylvania Route 462 from the western terminus to

US 30 U.S. Route 30 or U.S. Highway 30 (US 30) is an east–west main route of the United States Numbered Highway System, with the highway traveling across the Northern U.S. With a length of , it is the third-longest U.S. Highway, afte ...

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 Girard Avenue is a major commercial and residential street in Philadelphia. For most of its length it runs east–west, but at Frankford Avenue it makes a 135-degree turn north. Parts of the road are signed as U.S. Route 13 and U.S. Route 30. ...

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 Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

took over the stretch between 32nd and 34th Streets and turned the road into a pedestrian walkway known as Lancaster Walk. Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road 1795

Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road 1795

It was the first turnpike of importance, and because the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

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. Lancaster Avenue end

In 1876, the parallel

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

bought the turnpike from 52nd Street in Philadelphia west to Paoli for $20,000 (equal to $ today) to prevent competing

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

companies from building along it. In 1913, the turnpike became part of the transcontinental

Lincoln Highway The Lincoln Highway is one of the first transcontinental highways in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated Octob ...

, 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 The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

Major intersections

References

External links

Pennsylvania Highways: US 30

Photographs along the Lancaster Turnpike in Philadelphia. {{Coord, 40.0367, -76.3122, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title Lincoln Highway Pre-freeway turnpikes in the United States History of Lancaster, Pennsylvania Streets in Philadelphia U.S. Route 30 1795 establishments in Pennsylvania Historic trails and roads in Pennsylvania Transportation in Lancaster, Pennsylvania Transportation in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Chester County, Pennsylvania Transportation in Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Major intersections

See also

References

External links