Main Line of Public Works

Main Line of Public Works
Main Line of Public Works
	Map of historic Pennsylvania canals and connecting railroads
Specifications
Locks	168; (The Eastern Division Canal had 14 locks, the Juniata Division 86, and the Western Division 68)
Maximum height above sea level	2,322 ft (708 m); (Summit of the Allegheny Portage Railroad through Blair Gap)
Status	Canals abandoned except for historic and recreational segments. Many railroad segments survive as part of the Keystone Corridor.
History
Original owner	Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Date of act	1826
Construction began	1828
Date completed	1834
Date closed	Sold to Pennsylvania Railroad in 1857 with the last canal segment near Harrisburg closing in 1901
Geography
Start point	Philadelphia
End point	Pittsburgh
Branch(es)	Wiconisco Canal, Kittanning Feeder, Allegheny Outlet
Branch of	Pennsylvania Canal
Connects to	Delaware River, Schuylkill Canal, Conestoga Navigation, Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, Codorus Navigation, Union Canal, Susquehanna Division, Allegheny River, Monongahela River, Ohio River, Ashley Planes, Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, Lehigh Canal, and Delaware Canal

The Main Line of Public Works was a package of legislation passed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1826 to establish a means of transporting freight between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It funded the construction of various long-proposed canal and road projects, mostly in southern Pennsylvania, that became a canal system and later added railroads. Built between 1826 and 1834, it established the Pennsylvania Canal System and the Allegheny Portage Railroad.

Later amendments substituted a new technology, railroads, in place of the planned but costly 82-mile (132 km) canal connecting the Delaware River in Philadelphia to the Susquehanna River.

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