Section 16. Pennsylvania Medal of Honor Highway.
(a) Findings.--The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
(1) The Medal of Honor is our nation's highest award for valor presented to veterans of the armed forces of the United States for acting with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty at the risk of one's life during combat with an enemy of the United States.
(2) The Medal of Honor is widely respected by the military and public alike.
(3) Three hundred twenty-one Medal of Honor recipients were born in Pennsylvania, 382 recipients entered service from Pennsylvania and 241 recipients were laid to rest in Pennsylvania.
(4) Pennsylvania's Medal of Honor recipients served during 14 wars, from the Civil War to the Iraq War, over a period of more than 145 years.
(5) The nonprofit Bend Heroes Foundation and the Oregon Legislature created a law designating all 451 miles of the border-to-border US Route 20 in Oregon as the Oregon Medal of Honor Highway, a first in our nation to honor all of a state's Medal of Honor recipients.
(6) The Oregon law proposes a national Medal of Honor Highway to be created on US Route 20 at 3,365 miles in length.
(7) If all 11 states east of Oregon through which US Route 20 traverses designate border-to-border Medal of Honor Highways in their states, the highway would constitute the longest highway in the United States dedicated to our Medal of Honor heroes.
(8) Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Indiana have designated and dedicated state Medal of Honor Highways and, together with Oregon, account for nearly 70% of the distance across our nation. Massachusetts is currently proposing the dedication of its state Medal of Honor Highway.
(9) Pennsylvania has the second-highest number of Medal of Honor recipients of any state but has not dedicated a border-to-border highway honoring all of Pennsylvania's Medal of Honor recipients.
(10) A 45-mile, border-to-border Pennsylvania Medal of Honor Highway designated on US Route 20 would honor our Commonwealth's current and future Medal of Honor recipients and advance a 3,365-mile National Medal of Honor Highway across America between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
(11) Pennsylvania deeply appreciates the service and sacrifice of its Medal of Honor recipients and the positive roles they played in their communities for more than 145 years.
(b) Designation.--The entire portion, 45.433 miles, of US Route 20 in Pennsylvania, beginning at the Pennsylvania-Ohio State Line and ending at the Pennsylvania-New York State Line, is designated as the Pennsylvania Medal of Honor Highway.
(c) Signs.--The Department of Transportation shall erect and maintain appropriate signs, brown with white trim and lettering, displaying the name of the highway to traffic in each direction of the route near the borders of Ohio and New York. The sign shall also display the Army Medal of Honor, Navy Medal of Honor and Air Force Medal of Honor.