Interstate Highway System Pros And Cons

Due to this migration the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 was created. The justification given to the public was that it would make evacuation of large cities more efficient in case of an attack by the Soviet Union. It became the largest public works program in American history. The program was completely funded by taxes placed on goods that were needed for this migration (e.g., gas, oil, tires, buses and trucks). Two industries that reaped the most from this were the automobile industry and suburban home construction.

Transportation in the United States has changed dramatically in the past few hundred years, from dirt roads, to canals, to railroads, and back to roads to again. Improvements in transportation between the years 1820 and 1860 allowed for almost all of America to be accessible which caused the US economy to explode. Transportation turned the U.S. into a flourishing economy and caused a large increase in sectionalism, industrialization, and expansion.

When Americans get into their vehicles every day to go to work or school, they do not normally think about how much transportation has evolved over the years. People started out walking and then later moved to horse and buggies. During the early 1800’s, railroads were being built from east to west in this country and trains began to take over. As cities grew, people looked for ways to travel more efficiently. The work of Henry Ford made a lasting impact on America in regards to both transportation and manufacturing.

With the introductions of the Model T, the assembly line and the method of mass production created many new jobs. The Model T 's low price allowed everyone that was making a good salary to buy a car. It helped out society by giving people jobs especially at around this time when there was a lot of immigration in the United States and people needed jobs. "This vast production stimulated many other businesses: The steel, rubber, and glass industries flourished. Construction companies boomed as highways and garages were built. Oil companies, rapidly losing their kerosene business to the spread of electricity, more than made up for it with increased gasoline sales."(Gordon) As a whole it changed the economy at the time but in the long run it changed what society is today. It created mass production which is now our way of production and it changed all of working America with the numerous amounts of jobs it created. "As more Americans owned cars, urbanization patterns changed. The United States saw the growth of suburbia, the creation of a national highway system, and a population entranced with the possibility of going anywhere anytime." (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blford.htm)

Cars in the 1920s completely impacted daily life and greatly influenced the cars that we use everyday. Back before cars were popular, everyone traveled by horse and buggy. They had no source of cart heating, nothing to absorb shock, wheels without tires. All they had for streets back then were dirt roads with a top layer of gravel. This was not a problem for horses and buggies, but cars didn’t handle well in the mud. Because of this, the invention of the paved road we use now came about. After that, they needed a more organized and efficient way to navigate to faraway places, since the people could now travel at ease. An interstate highway system was created as a result of the First Federal Highway Act, passed in 1921. The highways heading

Impact: This is import because further, well-maintained roads, coupled with access to public transportation and other driving alternatives, can lower traffic congestion and accident rates which not only save Americans time and money but also save

The baby boom rose to its highest point in the late 50’s, this increasing consumers demand. The economy was also changed by the creation of more public roads. In Document 5, George M. Humphrey talks about new highways and how they will increase expansion. The point of view of this document is from

Total government spending more than doubled during the 50s, and surplus increased twelvefold. (Document H) To fight fears of depression, they enacted Public Law 627 and launched the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. (Document D) These revolutionary pieces of legislation brought about jobs by constructing 40000 miles of road, joining hundreds of American cities.

Like normal roads, the National Road began to deteriorate over time and because of that, the federal government stopped funding the road and it was abandoned at Vandalia, IL for “political and practical reasons”. Originally the plans called for it to stretch from Baltimore to St. Louis but the rapid growth of railroads led to the project being abandoned. Even though it never quite reached the final goal, it did eventually stretch 800 miles. Now, present day National Road is now part of U.S. Route 40. Roads today are either under construction or in need of construction. In the year 1811, Washington and Jefferson advocated on the idea to aid western expansion, so work on the “National Road” or “Cumberland Road”. This is the first road that was surveyed by Congress in 1806-7 and built from 1811-37. This road branched from the Cumberland, MD. In order to create this massive road, it had to under very crucial

The U.S. Democratic Senator, John H. Bankhead, was prominent in contribution by amending the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. This act, “promoted by the national Good Roads Movement, marks the first time that the federal government provided assistance for state highway costs… The Federal Aid Road Act provided funding for the improvement of any rural road over which the U.S. mail was carried” (History of the Federal-Aid Highway Program).

As the highway system made land more accessible, development of these new pieces of land was heavily encouraged. And due to the reliability of travel time for shipments of goods, “just in time” delivery was far more feasible. This reduced the warehouse costs and led to an increase of manufacturing efficiency. The Interstate Highway system not only allowed for quick travel, but expanded the geographical range and options for consumers, which resulted in larger selections and lower consumer prices. This caused an increased retail competition. With companies able to supply their products to much larger geographical areas, and less expensively, the Highway system enhanced inter-regional access and created a genuinely national domestic market. As the Interstate Highway System made more cheap land available, the expansion of residential, industrial and commercial construction exponentially increased. This indirectly led to an expansion of jobs. The highway itself resulted in more jobs as for every $1 billion investment over 40, 000, non-construction jobs, could be made and currently the highway employs close to 150,000 a

Threats of substitutes: In U.S., an automobile was considered as necessity so for every adult there was car on roads. Even for inter-city travel more than 70% time cars were used. Buses, trains and other means didn’t have much impact. The growing array of higher priced imported models had negative effect.

The automobile’s invention revolutionized the American transportation system. It allowed people to move themselves and cargo from city-to-city and state-to-state in a much faster and efficient manner. Its numbers increased as it gained popularity and became affordable. This led to the development of road networks both within and between cities. Problems arose in the areas where roads intersected each other; accidents occurred at these intersections due to the lack in control of vehicular movements. Cities employed people to direct traffic at busy intersections to address this issue, but eventually the intersections became too numerous to control using this method. The development of automated

The first group talked about Public tollways and why they are absolutely necessary. Toll roads can be built at no cost to taxpayers. The first idea of toll streets was to raise reserves for roadway upkeep by putting the weight of users, as opposed to neighborhood citizens. Today open organizations offer long-term concession

Our transportation system, quite arguably, may embody our most vital system, as Infrastructure and Democracy clarifies, “access is the hallmark of a great infrastructure” (Jones, Reinecke). By great contrast, our roads remain a current issue. 42 percent of America’s urban highways remain congested, costing the United States 101 billion dollars in wasted time and fuel each year. Also, the32 percent of roads, in poor or mediocre condition, cost the average traveler $324 per year (American Infrastructure Report Card). Unfortunately, updating the highway systems seems longer than it may seem, as the Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that from proposal to completion most highways will need nine to nineteen years to fix (Leduc, Wilson 129). In addition to the roads, our bridges are failing just as much. One of every nine bridges within the United States is categorized as structurally deficient. The average bridge 42 years old, and in order to eliminate the bridge renovation backlog, our country would need to invest twenty and a half billion dollars until 2028 (American Infrastructure Report Card). However, in 2013, the United States only invested 12.8 billion dollars in bridge reconstruction and repair (American Infrastructure Report Card). Also, our countries transit