A fascinating feat of engineering, stationary locomotives dragged canal boats and cargo over the Allegheny Mountains between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, cutting travel time from over three weeks to about 4 days. Now, the best way to travel through the scenic wooded hills is probably bicycle, on one of the many converted old railroad trails. Maybe next year. Today I drove the route in just a few hours on one electric charge.
The two sides racing to complete the transcontinental railway actually went far past each other before they finally agreed to meet here. The celebration drew many, as did the centennial, but the location is fairly remote and sparsely populated. There’s a plaque honoring Chinese laborers who contributed, even though many were not allowed to remain in the US.
Many visitors come to see the old style trains shown periodically, but the site is most interesting as a historic symbol of a new age dawning. There’s a large solar array under construction nearby, and hopefully our next transportation revolution from fossil-fueled to electric vehicles can be as dramatic and sudden as the shift from horse to train and telegraph.
The view from the gap includes Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, plus the small historic town of Cumberland Gap itself, which has a surprisingly good restaurant, Nineteen19. It’s difficult to think of a more historic spot in the country than this gap, where Native Americans, trappers, traders, frontier families, soldiers and slaves passed through over centuries. While most traffic zooms through the modern tunnel below, it’s an easy drive up near the top, where the ”object lesson” trail offers a short hike to the “saddle” of the gap or to the tri-state meeting point. In order to encourage more modern road construction techniques, the government improved the road here as an object lesson or proof of concept, that transportation can be improved even in challenging terrain. This blog is an object lesson that EV travel is possible, even over long distances cross country.
Zero Carbon Travel 