1.
Interstate 64 in Virginia
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In the U. S. state of Virginia, Interstate 64 runs east–west through the middle of the state from West Virginia to the Hampton Roads region, a total of 298 miles. It is notable for crossing the mouth of the harbor of Hampton Roads on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, I-64 enters Virginia as a four-lane divided highway, continuing its concurrency with U. S.60 through Covington into Lexington where the two routes split. From Lexington, I-64 then turns northward to Staunton overlapping Interstate 81 in the Shenandoah Valley. S, after Charlottesville, I-64 then turns more east-southeasterly and heads towards Richmond, passing through Fluvanna, Goochland and Louisa Counties. Hurricane gates are installed at eastbound Interstate 64 entrance and exit ramps from Exit 200 to Exit 273, to date, there has never been an activation of the contraflow system in any capacity. Once on the Southside, I-64 turns south through Norfolk, passing the eastern boundary of Naval Station Norfolk and Chambers Field, and the spur route supplying it, Interstate 564. It then becomes a six lane divided highway with a two lane roadway in the middle, which is used for HOV-traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours. After entering Chesapeake, I-64 actually turns west-southwesterly and it is actually at this point when the road stops being signed as either east or west and is only signed with its Beltway designation of Inner or Outer Loop. After interchanging with another of its routes, Interstate 464, I-64 then crosses the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River using the High Rise Bridge. Early studies and proposals of the Interregional Highway System, I-64 was to use the U. S. Route 250 alignment west of Richmond and this southern route was favored by Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr. and most members of the State Highway Commission. The decision was on hold for three years while the state continued planning for the piece of the US250 alignment from Richmond to Short Pump, which would be needed anyway to handle traffic. In 1961, U. S. Secretary of Commerce Luther Hodges rejected that plan and chose the present route, officially, the chosen route was considered more efficient. However, there is speculation that the decision involved back-room politics of the Kennedy administration, Interstate 64 has four auxiliary routes, all of which are in the Hampton Roads Area, Interstate 664, a bypass route serving Chesapeake, Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton. Interstate 564, a route serving Naval Station Norfolk. Interstate 264, a route serving the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, Downtown Norfolk. Interstate 464, a route serving the western side of Chesapeake, Portsmouth. It connects I-64 in Chesapeake to I-264 in Norfolk, two segments on I-64 have been identified as candidates for widening, I-64 on the Virginia Peninsula from New Kent County to Newport News and I-64 in South Hampton Roads from the I-464/SR 168/U. S. 17 interchange in Chesapeake to the Bowers Hill Interchange in Suffolk, on the Peninsula, most of the I-64 corridor is a four lane roadway and is one of the most-traveled segments in the region, connecting the Hampton Roads Metro to the Greater Richmond region. The approved plan selected by VDOT and partners included the plan that added a general purpose lane in each direction by either expanding into the median or on the outside shoulder
2.
Hampton Roads
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Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in Virginia and the surrounding metropolitan region in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, United States. The body of known as Hampton Roads is one of the worlds largest natural harbors. It incorporates the mouths of the Elizabeth River, Nansemond River, the land area includes a collection of cities, counties and towns on the Virginia Peninsula and in South Hampton Roads. Some of the areas further from the harbor may or may not be included as part of Hampton Roads. The Combined Statistical Area includes four counties in North Carolina, pushing the regional population to over 1.8 million residents. The area is steeped in 400 years of American history, with hundreds of historical sites, the harbor was the key to Hampton Roads growth, both on land and in water-related activities and events. While the harbor and its tributaries were important transportation conduits, at the time they presented obstacles to land-based commerce. Creating and maintaining adequate infrastructure has long been a major challenge, the term Hampton Roads is a centuries-old designation that originated when the region was a struggling English outpost nearly four hundred years ago. The origin of the two words is noteworthy, the word Hampton honors one of the founders of the Virginia Company of London and a great supporter of the colonization of Virginia, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. The early administrative center of the new colony was known as Elizabeth Cittie, named for Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King James I, the town at the center of Elizabeth Cittie became known as Hampton, and a nearby waterway was designated Hampton Creek. Other references to the Earl include the area to the north across the bay became known as Northampton. As with Hampton, both of these remain in use today. The term Roads indicates the safety of a port, as applied to a body of water, examples of other roadsteads are Castle Roads, in another of the Virginia Companys settlements, Bermuda, and Lahaina Roads, in Hawaii. In 1755, the Virginia General Assembly recorded the name Hampton Roads as the channel linking the James, Elizabeth, and Nansemond rivers with the Chesapeake Bay. Hampton Roads has become known as the worlds largest natural harbor, the U. S. Postal Service changed the areas postmark from Tidewater Virginia to Hampton Roads, Virginia beginning in 1983. While the borders of what locals call Hampton Roads may not perfectly align with the definition of the MSA, Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, VA–NC MSA is a U. S. According to the 2010 Census, its population is 1,676,822, since a state constitutional change in 1871, all cities in Virginia are independent cities and they are not legally located in a county. The OMB considers these independent cities to be county-equivalents for the purpose of defining MSAs in Virginia, each MSA is listed by its counties, then cities, in alphabetical order and not by size
3.
Norfolk, Virginia
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Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 242,803, in 2015, Norfolk is located at the core of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, named for the large natural harbor of the same name located at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay. It is one of nine cities and seven counties that constitute the Hampton Roads metro area, officially known as the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, the city is bordered to the west by the Elizabeth River and to the north by the Chesapeake Bay. It also shares borders with the independent cities of Chesapeake to its south. Norfolk is one of the oldest cities in Hampton Roads, and is considered to be the historic, urban, financial, the city has a long history as a strategic military and transportation point. The largest Navy base in the world, Naval Station Norfolk, is located in Norfolk along with one of NATOs two Strategic Command headquarters. As the city is bordered by multiple bodies of water, Norfolk has many miles of riverfront and bayfront property, including beaches on the Chesapeake Bay. It is linked to its neighbors by a network of Interstate highways, bridges, tunnels. In 1619, the Governor of the Virginia Colony, Sir George Yeardley incorporated four jurisdictions, termed citties and these formed the basis for colonial representative government in the newly minted House of Burgesses. What would become Norfolk was put under the Elizabeth Cittie incorporation, in 1634 King Charles I reorganized the colony into a system of shires. The former Elizabeth Cittie became Elizabeth City Shire, after persuading 105 people to settle in the colony, Adam Thoroughgood was granted a large land holding, through the head rights system, along the Lynnhaven River in 1636. When the South Hampton Roads portion of the shire was separated, one year later, it was split into two counties, Upper Norfolk and Lower Norfolk, chiefly on Thoroughgoods recommendation. This area of Virginia became known as the place of entrepreneurs, the House of Burgesses established the Towne of Lower Norfolk County in 1680. In 1691, a final county subdivision took place when Lower Norfolk County split to form Norfolk County, in 1730, a tobacco inspection site was located here. By 1775, Norfolk developed into what contemporary observers argued was the most prosperous city in Virginia and it was an important port for exporting goods to the British Isles and beyond. In part because of its merchants numerous trading ties with other parts of the British Empire, after fleeing the colonial capital of Williamsburg, Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, tried to reestablish control of the colony from Norfolk. Dunmore secured small victories at Norfolk but was forced into exile by the American rebels and his departure brought an end to more than 168 years of British colonial rule in Virginia. On New Years Day,1776, Lord Dunmores fleet of three ships shelled the city of Norfolk for more than eight hours, the damage from the shells and fires started by the British and spread by the patriots destroyed over 800 buildings, almost two-thirds of the city
4.
Trestle bridge
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A trestle is a rigid frame used as a support, historically a tripod used both as stools and to support tables at banquets. A trestle bridge is a composed of a number of short spans supported by such frames. Since this type of bridge is called a trestle for short. Timber and iron trestles were used in the 19th century. In the 21st century, steel and sometimes concrete trestles are commonly used to bridge particularly deep valleys while timber trestles remain common in certain areas, many timber trestles were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries with the expectation that they would be temporary. Timber trestles were used to get the railroad to its destination, in the later 20th century, tools such as the earthmover made it cheaper to construct a high fill directly instead of first constructing a trestle from which to dump the fill. Timber trestles remain common in applications, most notably for bridge approaches crossing floodways. For the purposes of discharging material below, a coal trestle carried a dead-end track, one of the longest trestle spans created was for railroad traffic crossing the Great Salt Lake on the Lucin Cutoff in Utah. It was replaced by a causeway in the 1960s, and is now being salvaged for its timber. Many wooden roller coasters are built using design details similar to trestle bridges because it is so easy to make the roller coaster very high, since loads are well distributed through large portions of the structure it is also resilient to the stresses imposed. The structure also naturally leads to a certain redundancy, such wooden coasters, while limited in their path, possess a certain ride character that is appreciated by fans of the type. The Camas Prairie Railroad in northern Idaho utilized many timber trestles across the rolling Camas Prairie and in the major grade, the 1, 490-foot viaduct across Lawyers Canyon was the exception, constructed of steel and 287 feet in height. The floodway of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in St. Charles Parish, the trestles are owned by the Canadian National Railway and the Kansas City Southern Railroad. The trestles were completed in 1936, after construction of the Spillway, the trestles may be the longest wooden railroad trestles remaining in regular use in North America. These were all replaced by masonry viaducts, few timber trestles survived into the 20th century. Two that did, and which are still in use, cross the Afon Mawddach on the coast of Wales only a few miles apart, at Barmouth. The former, built in 1867, carries trains on the heavy rail Cambrian Coast Line travelling from England via Shrewsbury to the small towns on Cardigan Bay. It also carries a toll-path for pedestrians, trestles in cast- or wrought-iron were used during the 19th Century on the developing railway network in the United Kingdom
5.
Tunnel
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A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through the surrounding soil/earth/rock and enclosed except for entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods, a tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a transit network are usually in tunnel. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers, utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient passage of people and equipment. Secret tunnels are built for military purposes, or by civilians for smuggling of weapons, contraband, special tunnels, such as wildlife crossings, are built to allow wildlife to cross human-made barriers safely. A tunnel is relatively long and narrow, the length is much greater than twice the diameter, although similar shorter excavations can be constructed. The definition of what constitutes a tunnel can vary widely from source to source, for example, the definition of a road tunnel in the United Kingdom is defined as a subsurface highway structure enclosed for a length of 150 metres or more. In the United States, the NFPA definition of a tunnel is An underground structure with a length greater than 23 m. The place where a road, railway, canal or watercourse passes under a footpath, cycleway, or another road or railway is most commonly called a bridge or, if passing under a canal, an aqueduct. Where it is important to stress that it is passing underneath, it may be called an underpass, a longer underpass containing a road, canal or railway is normally called a tunnel, whether or not it passes under another item of infrastructure. An underpass of any length under a river is usually called a tunnel. In the US, the term means an underground rapid transit system. Rail station platforms may be connected by tunnels or footbridges. Much of the technology of tunneling evolved from mining and military engineering. The etymology of the mining, military engineering, and civil engineering reveals these deep historic connections. A major tunnel project must start with an investigation of ground conditions by collecting samples from boreholes. An informed choice can then be made of machinery and methods for excavation and ground support, in planning the route, the horizontal and vertical alignments can be selected to make use of the best ground and water conditions. It is common practice to locate a tunnel deeper than otherwise would be required and this may be a particular concern in large-diameter tunnels
6.
Bridge
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A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles without closing the way underneath such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. There are many different designs that each serve a particular purpose, the Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word bridge to an Old English word brycg, of the same meaning. The word can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰrēw-. The word for the game of the same name has a different origin. The first bridges made by humans were probably spans of cut wooden logs or planks and eventually stones, using a simple support, some early Americans used trees or bamboo poles to cross small caverns or wells to get from one place to another. Dating to the Greek Bronze Age, it is one of the oldest arch bridges still in existence, several intact arched stone bridges from the Hellenistic era can be found in the Peloponnese. The greatest bridge builders of antiquity were the ancient Romans, the Romans built arch bridges and aqueducts that could stand in conditions that would damage or destroy earlier designs. An example is the Alcántara Bridge, built over the river Tagus, the Romans also used cement, which reduced the variation of strength found in natural stone. One type of cement, called pozzolana, consisted of water, lime, sand, brick and mortar bridges were built after the Roman era, as the technology for cement was lost. In India, the Arthashastra treatise by Kautilya mentions the construction of dams, a Mauryan bridge near Girnar was surveyed by James Princep. The bridge was swept away during a flood, and later repaired by Puspagupta, the use of stronger bridges using plaited bamboo and iron chain was visible in India by about the 4th century. A number of bridges, both for military and commercial purposes, were constructed by the Mughal administration in India and this bridge is also historically significant as it is the worlds oldest open-spandrel stone segmental arch bridge. European segmental arch bridges date back to at least the Alconétar Bridge, rope bridges, a simple type of suspension bridge, were used by the Inca civilization in the Andes mountains of South America, just prior to European colonization in the 16th century. During the 18th century there were innovations in the design of timber bridges by Hans Ulrich Grubenmann, Johannes Grubenmann. The first book on bridge engineering was written by Hubert Gautier in 1716, a major breakthrough in bridge technology came with the erection of the Iron Bridge in Shropshire, England in 1779. It used cast iron for the first time as arches to cross the river Severn, with the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, truss systems of wrought iron were developed for larger bridges, but iron does not have the tensile strength to support large loads. With the advent of steel, which has a tensile strength, much larger bridges were built. In 1927 welding pioneer Stefan Bryła designed the first welded bridge in the world
7.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
9.
Fort Monroe
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Fort Monroe is a decommissioned military installation in Hampton, Virginia—at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula. Surrounded by a moat, the star fort is the largest stone fort ever built in the United States. During the initial exploration by the mission headed by Captain Christopher Newport in the earliest days of the Colony of Virginia, beginning by 1609, defensive fortifications were built at Old Point Comfort during Virginias first two centuries. The first was a wooden stockade named Fort Algernourne, however, the much more substantial facility of stone to become known as Fort Monroe were completed in 1834. The principal facility was named in honor of U. S. President James Monroe, throughout the American Civil War, although most of Virginia became part of the Confederate States of America, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands. It became notable as a historic and symbolic site of early freedom for former slaves under the provisions of contraband policies, for two years thereafter, the former Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, was imprisoned at the fort. His first months of confinement were spent in a cell of the fort walls that is now part of its Casemate Museum. In the 20th century, it housed the Coast Artillery School and later the United States Army Training, Fort Monroe was decommissioned on September 15,2011, and many of its functions were transferred to nearby Fort Eustis. Several re-use plans for Fort Monroe are under development in the Hampton community, on November 1,2011, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation to designate portions of Fort Monroe as a National Monument. This was the first time that President Obama exercised his authority under the Antiquities Act and it has a 332-slip marina and shallow water inlet access to Mill Creek, suitable for small watercraft. The land area where Fort Monroe is became part of Elizabeth Cittie in 1619, Elizabeth River Shire in 1634, on their initial exploration, they recognized the strategic importance of the site at Old Point Comfort for purposes of coastal defense. They initially built Fort Algernourne at the location of the present Fort Monroe and it is assumed to have been a triangular stockade, based on the fort at Jamestown. Other small forts known as Fort Henry and Fort Charles were built nearby in 1610, in the latter part of August 1619, a Dutch ship, the White Lion, appeared off the coast of Old Point Comfort. Its cargo included more than 30 Africans captured from the slave ship Sao Joao Bautista, traded for work and supplies from the English, they were the first Africans to come ashore on British-occupied land in what would become the United States. Although the Bantu Africans from Angola were considered indentured servants, their arrival is considered to mark the beginning of slavery in America, another fort, known only as the fort at Old Point Comfort was constructed in 1632. In 1728, Fort George was built on the site and its masonry walls were destroyed by a hurricane in 1749, but the wood buildings in the fort were used by a reduced force until at least 1775. In 1781, during the Siege of Yorktown, the French West Indian fleet established a battery on the ruins of Fort George, throughout the Colonial period, fortifications were manned at the location from time to time. Following the War of 1812, the United States realized the need to protect Hampton Roads, in March 1819, President James Monroe came up with a plan of building a network of coastal defenses
10.
Interstate Highway System
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The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways is a network of controlled-access highways that forms a part of the National Highway System of the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation, construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later, although some urban routes were cancelled and never built. The network has since been extended and, as of 2013, as of 2013, about one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country use the Interstate system. In 2006, the cost of construction was estimated at about $425 billion, the nations revenue needs associated with World War I prevented any significant implementation of this policy, which expired in 1921. In the plan, Mehren proposed a 50, 000-mile system, the system would include two percent of all roads and would pass through every state at a cost of $25,000 per mile, providing commercial as well as military transport benefits. As the landmark 1916 law expired, new legislation was passed—the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 and this new road construction initiative once again provided for federal matching funds for road construction and improvement, $75 million allocated annually. The Bureau of Public Roads asked the Army to provide a list of roads that it considered necessary for national defense. A boom in construction followed throughout the decade of the 1920s. As automobile traffic increased, planners saw a need for such a national system to supplement the existing, largely non-freeway. By the late 1930s, planning had expanded to a system of new superhighways, in 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Thomas MacDonald, chief at the Bureau of Public Roads, a hand-drawn map of the United States marked with eight superhighway corridors for study. He recognized that the system would also provide key ground transport routes for military supplies. The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, informally known as the Yellow Book, assisting in the planning was Charles Erwin Wilson, who was still head of General Motors when President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953. The Interstate Highway System was authorized on June 29,1956 by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate, three states have claimed the title of first Interstate Highway. Missouri claims that the first three contracts under the new program were signed in Missouri on August 2,1956, the first contract signed was for upgrading a section of US Route 66 to what is now designated Interstate 44. On August 13,1956, Missouri awarded the first contract based on new Interstate Highway funding, kansas claims that it was the first to start paving after the act was signed. Preliminary construction had taken place before the act was signed, the state marked its portion of I-70 as the first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The Pennsylvania Turnpike could also be considered one of the first Interstate Highways, on October 1,1940,162 miles of the highway now designated I‑70 and I‑76 opened between Irwin and Carlisle. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refers to the turnpike as the Granddaddy of the Pikes, October 12,1979, The final section of the Canada to Mexico freeway Interstate 5 is dedicated near Stockton, California
I-64 / US 60
