In 1755, during the French and Indian War, British troops under the command of General Edward Braddock completed the arduous task of building a road westward from Fort Cumberland. They largely followed an Indian trail known as Nemacolin's Path, expanding it to a road using only hand tools. The road construction was part of the Braddock Expedition, which was the British campaign to seize Fort Duquesne from the French and Indian forces. Although the military expedition was a failure, the road continued to be used afterwards. However, with little maintenance being done on the road, it decayed over time until by the early nineteenth century little remained of the road. The route followed by Alt US 40 today is very similar to the route followed by Braddock's Road, with the exceptions of various realignments that have been done to the road over the years. For example, Braddock's Road crossed directly over Haystack Mountain west of Cumberland rather than following the Cumberland Narrows as later roads did.