Roads Dbq

The article The New Deal, by Thomas Kessner, outlines Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s pre presidency, but more importantly, the policy he used in an attempt to bring America back to its pre Great Depression economic greatness. In order to do so, Roosevelt expanded federal authority over American citizens. He implemented a progressive income tax as well as created numerous federal work projects, aimed at increasing employment, as well as use federal money to help the economy. One example the author uses to prove this point of the large amount of projects is the Tennessee Valley Authority initiative, which spanned across seven states. The projects worked towards economic development and conservation. This projects protected endangered forests, built dams, and brought electricity and running water to the people.

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.

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

Roads and canals will shorten distances, effortless way to get somewhere, and facilitate commercial and personal communication. The first roads in America were developed by early settlers. “The National Road was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. The road was authorized by Congress in 1806 during the Jefferson Administration” (“The National Road” par. 1). The first 10 miles of roads were built. Wagons were slow and very difficult to use on dirt roads because of the weather. In 1811, the federal government opened the national road connecting Cumberland, Maryland to Ohio River. Road improvements may have made it possible for more people to live in a specific area, because access between that area and major job location centers is facilitated by the improved roads. Around 1821, there was around 4,000 turmpikes and private roads that

In the midst of  Cold War, under threat of a nuclear attack, the United States government was looking for a way to increase the speed of transporting military personnel,  resources, and people quickly across the US in a dynamic fashion. The Interstate highway was the most effective plan that was spawned as it could be easily repaired in the event of the nuclear attack, and it would regionally connect the entire nation. Although the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 was a costly federal spending program burdened with exorbitant maintenance costs,the construction of the Interstate Highway system proved to advance the nation economically with the facilitation of interstate transportation of goods allowing faster trade at lower costs, socially the

Eisenhower's goals as president had involved downsizing the military. By spending less money on defense, Eisenhower had believed Americans could spend more on infrastructure and the quality of living in the United States. And he did just that with the creation of America’s first interstate highways system. General Eisenhower went from coordinating the largest military operation the world has ever seen, to pushing the world's largest work project which would be known as the Federal Highway Act of 1956. With this act, General Eisenhower had changed the face of America, creating one of the largest cultural changes in the history of the United States. He had organized that 90% of the cost for this project would handled in the Highway Trust Fund, which came from taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel, while 10% of the cost would come from the states. Eisenhower’s endorsement for the Federal-Aid Highway Act can be directly credited to his experiences as a member in the U.S Army’s first Transcontinental Motor Convoy across the United States. At 28 years of age the young Lieutenant colonel had written a chapter in his book At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends about his experiences traveling cross country. His experience had convinced him to support an interstate system. He had supported highways for the purpose of a national defence. “In the event of a ground invasion by a foreign power, the U.S Army would need good highways to transport troops across

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 pushed for transcontinental highways across America to connect the nation in a safer fashion. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law to improve “speedy, safe transcontinental travel” through a 40,000 mile interstate highway. Since the Cold War pressured Americans into building the highways, support for their construction grew as they provided quick evacuation routes for cities that could be target areas from the impending threat of the Soviet Union. The Act provided that the federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost for building the highway and the law portioned out $26 billion to pay for the construction. The government collected the money for the construction by increasing the

Throughout the course of history there have been many advances in the world of infrastructure, mostly occurring in the 1800’s and the 1900’s. Infrastructure is defined as the basic physical and organizational structure needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. This definition shows how important infrastructure is to people’s lives today. It affects how people live, travel, and communicate with one another. Three men who made huge contributions in the world of infrastructure were Robert Moses, Richard Ravitch and Othmar Hermann Ammann. All three of these men were involved in designing numerous landmarks, highways, bridges, tunnels, and other forms of infrastructure that today we take for granted. Although all of these men were involved in infrastructure in the New York metropolitan area, their contributions, personalities, and the public’s opinion of them were all different.

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

This interview will provide a firsthand look from Ray LaHood who was the secretary of transportation during the first Obama administration. This looks at the political views and constraints around rebuilding roads and bridges. There are around 70,000 bridges and thousands of miles of roadways that need repair. One of the main issues is, politicians do not want to spend

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

In the late 1800’s, networks of trails across the U.S. began to give way to the automobile. Founded in 1880, the League of American Wheelman was one of the first groups to advocate for and successfully win a $10,000 appropriation from Congress for the improvement of roads (Weingroff, Celebrating A Centruy of Cooperation, 2015). This group would later oblige Congress to create the U.S. Office Road Inquiry in 1893, which ultimately in 1966 became the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). As the popularity and use of the automobile continued to rise, in 1902, the American Automobile Association (AAA) and American Road makers group became additional advocates and shapers of the transportation infrastructure. Mr. Logan W. Page, first Director for the U.S. Office Road Inquiry, later in 1910 formed the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

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