The Pennsylvania Turnpike: An historical operating technological artifact

The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a representative of road systems that are beginning to be studied by professional researchers. In addition, it is important not to neglect insights provided by non-academic works.;The Pennsylvania Turnpike is a modern operating industrial artifact whose vision, construction and operating history has been shaped by American culture, and whose presence in that culture has contributed to ways in which Americans define themselves. To examine the Pike's history it is necessary to look back in time to the construction, then abandonment, of the railroad whose partially completed tunnels and roadbed made the Turnpike project feasible. It was an engineering and construction accomplishment envisioned, financed, and built in just the right place and time to move forward in harmonious mesh.;The Pennsylvania Turnpike was designed to pay for itself. It faced competition from several other forms of trans-Allegheny transport, some well established, some fledgling. The closest competitors were the roads already built near the Turnpike's intended path. The difference in engineering between these roads and the Pike would determine whether the Turnpike became a financial success. To the facts and events of Turnpike construction must be added the influences of contemporary culture as seen in international, regional, and local events that took place while the Pike was being fought for, designed, and built. In fact, no modern industrial artifact can be understood without regarding the linkages that bind it to its resident culture and that make it important (or unimportant) to the people who use it.;Much work is left to do in order to preserve and explain the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is already moving to safeguard early objects and documents, and to collect an oral history from early employees. In addition, new projects and demonstrations promise to enhance awareness among Turnpike employees and the public at large of the importance of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in helping to explain a vital part of our American culture.