Breezewood: The Town That a Law Made Famous

Breezewood exists because of a single clause in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of nineteen fifty-six. The law said that an Interstate highway could connect directly to a toll road only if a free alternative route was also available. No free alternative existed here, so Interstate Seventy never directly meets the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

Instead, the highway dumps onto a surface road through this tiny community, forcing every driver through a half-mile strip of motels, gas stations, and fast food. At its peak, Breezewood had twenty-two motels and called itself the Town of Motels on road signs. The captive traffic was a gold mine.

Then Interstate Sixty-Eight opened in nineteen ninety-one, rerouting long-distance trucks and tourists away. The neon faded. Most motels closed.

The gap in the interstate system remains, preserved by politics and inertia, and Breezewood is still one of only two places in America where a numbered Interstate carries traffic lights.