The National Road, commonly called the Cumberland Road, was built by the United States' government in 1811 in response to the demand for a road tying the East to the West. President Jefferson appointed a board of commissioners to decide upon the exact route through which the extended road would run. Plans were made to construct the road from Cumberland, Maryland to Jefferson City, Missouri, but funding ran out and construction stopped at Vandalia, Illinois in 1838. The National Road project was a huge project for its time and it relates to the revolution in transportation that was going on in Britain at the time. This project, along with the construction of railroads, shows the focus that governments were putting on transportation, which became more and more important during the Industrial Revolution.
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