On September 19, 1996, the Seaway Trail was one of the first 20 byways nationwide to be named a National Scenic Byway by the United States Department of Transportation. That same year, Seaway Trail, Inc., the non-profit organization maintaining the byway, reached an agreement with the state of Pennsylvania that extended the byway another southwestward to the Ohio state line, bringing the route's total length to . This extension of the Seaway Trail became a Pennsylvania Scenic Byway on August 8, 2003, and a National Scenic Byway on September 22, 2005, making the Seaway Trail the first and, thus far, only interstate byway in the region. The route was recognized as one of the "Top 50 Most Comfortable Touring Drives" in the nation by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in October 2010.