Here’s a fascinating article from the Charleston (W.Va.) Daily Mail about the 200th anniversary of the National Road, aka U.S. 40.
And it brings up an angle I haven’t heard before: that the National Road withered not because of the interstate, but because of a railroad — decades before the interstate highway system was a sparkle in Dwight Eisenhower’s eye.
… The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which reached Wheeling in 1852, signaled the end of the National Road’s heyday.
The relatively fast, comfortable trains left carriages and ox-drawn wagons in the dust.
Then, in 1927, the National Road got new life as U.S. 40. Inns and taverns gave way to motels and gas stations, which offered new ways to serve new travelers.
Still, the National Road never recovered the allure it had when it teemed with Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches.
The article goes on to say that Route 66 gained prominence over the National Road because of its smart marketing. But the die was cast long before.