Marker Text: This is one of the original service plazas for the nation's first long-distance superhighway. On October 1, 1940, the Turnpike opened, stretching 160 miles from Carlisle to Irwin. The Turnpike Commission had been created in 1937; construction utilized the old South Pennsylvania Railroad's right-of-way and tunnels. By 1957 the Turnpike spanned 360 miles across the State and extended 110 miles north to Scranton.
Location: On the South Midway Service Plaza (west bound lanes), just West of Turnpike Exit 11, Bedford. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 1990.
Last October was the 70th Anniversary of the opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and since I am originally from Pennsylvania the ongoing joke was that the turnpike might be 70 years old but it is still under construction. I remember traveling on the turnpike in the 1960's during family vacations and as a kid the road was both fascinating and boring. The scenery from the road was not particularly exciting until you got to a tunnel and these were probably the first and only tunnels I can remember going through as a kid. I remember many trips stopping at the service plazas where this marker is located on either the east or west bound lanes. (There is a similar marker at the east bound service plaza.) While travel on the turnpike was not exciting for kids on vacation, the highways was important to the development and history of Pennsylvania and automobiles.
