National Road

National Road, also called Cumberland Road, 19th-century highway, extending for nearly 1300 km (800 mi) from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. Now part of U.S. Highway 40, this road was important in opening the West and Southwest to settlement from the East. Construction began in 1811 and ended in 1852 because of the increasing importance of railroads in westward migration. The road was to have been built by the federal government with funds derived from sales of public lands in the states traversed, but additional appropriations proved necessary. The government advanced $6,821,246, largely because of the efforts of Senator Henry Clay. By 1856 the government had turned over to the states through which the highway passed the portions of road included within each state. With the advent of the automobile, many improvements were made.