User:DGG/New York – Chicago Toll Road system

The New York – Chicago Toll Road system consists of a nearly-unbroken series of toll roads, all relatively early expressways, nearly connecting Manhattan in the east and downtown Chicago in the west. Beginning near the George Washington Bridge, connected by a short freeway segment as a bridge approach, the system consists of the northern and central part of the New Jersey Turnpike, the Pearl Harbor Memorial Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike, the mainline of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Ohio Turnpike, the Indiana Toll Road, and the Chicago Skyway, which feeds into the Dan Ryan Expressway leading to and from downtown Chicago.

The goal was a 800+ mile connector unbroken by railroad or stoplights. It includes parts of what are now Interstate 95, Interstate 276, Interstate 76, Interstate 70, Interstate 80, and Interstate 90. It is a remarkable achievement crossing some large rivers and some mountainous terrain in central Pennsylvania. It bypasses such other large cities as Gary, Michigan City, and South Bend, Indiana; Toledo, Cleveland, Akron, and Youngstown, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Trenton and Hoboken, New Jersey. Each of these cities is well connected to this system, typically with newer freeways.

History
Many of the earliest expressways of the northeastern quadrant of the United States were built as toll roads for lack of other means of financing them before the establishment of the Interstate Highway System that used taxes on motor fuels as revenue for the construction of toll-free highways. All of the New York – Chicago toll road system was built before the Interstate funding was available, although some later made use of federal funding. All of these highways remain toll roads.

Although efforts faced a stop start due to the wars of the early twentieth century, by 1956 one could travel from New York to Chicago through varied terrain with comparative ease on safe roads free of crossroads, railroad grade crossings, stoplights, driveways, at-grade intersections, or stop signs, stopping only to pay tolls, typically at termini and at state lines. Built before most other long-distance expressways, they are essentially as good as the newer expressways.

The completion of the free section of Interstate 80 in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and eastern Ohio ("Keystone Shortway" in part) created a shortcut across some thinly-populated, rough terrain that allowed motorists seeking to go between New York and Chicago to miss much of the old toll-road system between the two cities on a toll-free expressway. The most direct route between Chicago and New York still includes the section of this system between Chicago and Youngstown, Ohio.

The new system had a major effect of transportation patterns, facilitating intercity bus traffic.

Its construction was part of a larger movement to improve highway transport in the US. The states of Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, which had established turnpike authorities, co-operated in planning the linkage between the existing Pennsylvania Turnpike and the remaining westward route to Chicago.