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29.03.

1806: Decision to Build the First Road in the USA

1806: Decision to Build the First Road in the USA
Photo Credit To https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/National_road_map.png

The road connected the river Potomac (which passes through Washington, D.C.) with the river Ohio, down which it is possible to reach the Mississippi.



The decision to build the first state road in the USA was made on this day in 1806. The man responsible for this was none other than Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president. The road was planned to connect the original 13 U.S. states with the west. Namely, the USA had by then expanded greatly by buying Louisiana from the French in 1803.

The road was supposed to connect the capital at Washington, D.C. with the Appalachian Mountains. Those mountains were the main natural barrier on the east-west route in the USA at that time. More precisely, the road connected the river Potomac (which passes through Washington, D.C.) with the river Ohio, down which it is possible to reach the Mississippi. The rivers and their coasts used to be the main traffic arteries before the construction of quality roads.

The link to the river Ohio was completed in 1818 and later extended all the way to Vandalia, Illinois.

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