In 1796, Congress authorized the Zane brother to clear a path through the dense woods of Appalachian Ohio, fulfilling President George Washington's desire to "open wide the gates of the West." Zane's Trace cut through the forests of eleven Ohio counties, reaching the Ohio River at Aberdeen. The appalachian road eventually was merged into the National Road, the nation's first federally funded interstate highway. The nation's leaders desired an all-weather road across the Allegheny Mountains in order to develop closer political ties between the East and West. Considered a significant engineering feat, the National Road opened Ohio and the Old Northwest Territory. The National Road thrived during the heyday of the stagecoach and was renowned for the number of nearby quality inns and taverns, but the road declined after 1850 as railroads became the preferred method of travel. The automobile, however, brought new life to the National Road. Reborn as U.S. 40, it became a busy artery until the development of the interstate highways of the 1960s.