Route 66 History

Prompt: In what ways did developments in transportation bring about economic and social change in the United States in the period 1820-1860?

faster for less money than before. This, in turn, allowed for wider market areas in

Second, the development of new public transit systems, was important in shaping the design of our cities and the growth of our cities by enabling people to move further away from the inner city. Early on, large cities didn’t really have public transportation. Their main source of transportation were horse drawn wagons and walking. In conclusion, most people lived near on in the downtown area, where most of the working establishments were located. Because of this, it made big cites crowed and congested. With the breakthrough of the “el”, electric streetcars, and subways, around 1867, cities began expand more. Those who were fortunate enough to move out of the dirty cities and into better neighborhoods surrounded outside the city, did so. The new transit systems in most cities allowed people to escape the chaos of urban life and provided potential for growth of our cities.

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.

The United State has always been weak in public transportation and mass transit tools. California was once supposed to be different and revolutionized. Trolleys connecting the suburbs to the city and business districts was the main reason why cities expanded vertically. These mass transit tools organized the transits in an extremely environmentally friendly way. But the venue of cars and the thought of independence flattered americans pushing them to each buy a car, synonym of their independence. Now the trains and connecting public transportations have practically disappeared and are irrelevant.

The trucking industry is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Nearly 70% of all the freight tonnage moved in the U.S. goes on trucks. Without the industry and our truck drivers, the economy would come to a standstill. To move 9.2 billion tons of freight annually requires nearly 3 million heavy-duty Class 8 trucks and over 3 million truck drivers. It also takes over 37 billion gallons of diesel fuel to move all of that freight. Simply – without trucks, America stops. (trucking.org)

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.

Daily life in the northern United States took on the hustle and bustle of a modern economy which can be seen in articles from the Valley Spirit. In the article “Chambersburg and Gettysburg Railroad,” the citizens of Fayetteville are interested in building a railroad linking the two towns. Fayetteville’s citizens have already contributed eighty dollars towards having the path surveyed and would like for the citizens of Franklin County to donate the remaining fifty dollars to have the project completed in a timely manner (Chambersburg and Gettysburg Railroad). The editors of this article express great confidence in Franklin County’s citizen’s will to support this project (Chambersburg and Gettysburg Railroad).This article shows the mind set of northern Americans and their willingness to work together to modernize and improve the infrastructure of their towns and cities. Another example of this mindset and desire to improve the infrastructure can be seen in the article “For the Valley Spirit,” which talks about the construction of a bridge crossing the Franklin

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

The history of the Chicago Skyway began in 1928, when the City Council of Chicago—motivated by the desire to strengthen connections between the city and the country’s Midwestern industrial base—requested a study for an elevated roadway to be constructed above the Pennsylvania Rail Road’s right of way. Although this proposal did not ultimately come to fruition, the planning set the stage on which the road would be built adjacent to this railroad. Concurrently, the Chicago Plan Commission had begun researching a southern extension of Lake Shore Drive beyond Jackson Park as a means to connect the city with Indiana. This study resulted in two possibilities for extending the roadway. The first possibility was to extend Lake Shore Drive along Stony Island Avenue to the Pennsylvania Railroad Right of way where it would proceed in the same manner as proposed in the 1928 plan; the second possibility was to simply extend the roadway along lake fill to Rainbow Beach Park, where it would then merge onto South Commercial Avenue which would carry it to Indiana Avenue.

Due to the bicycle movement, the importance of road maintenance returned in the nineteenth century along with the building of the National Road created smoother journeys on land. While in the 1820’s the Erie Canal opened to the public allowed for exponentially faster and cheaper transport of products through the country by water. These advancements in transportation made people, information, and goods mobile meaning there was no longer a need to trade local since a farmer could sell his products nationally for a profit. However, these improvements would not be possible without the private contributions of investors to build these infrastructures.

I’ve never really thought about who decides build roads and where they will be built. I know that I witness a lot of highway construction in southern Illinois. I know that IDOT is in charge of construction and I’m sure citizens pay for IDOT through the taxes they pay. If people already pay taxes to upkeep the roads, why are there electronic tolls? As previously stated, I am from southern Illinois and there are no tolls in that area. Even when I travel to nearby St. Louis there are no tolls. The only time I see tolls is when I travel to the Chicagoland area. Why are there tolls in Chicago, but not in St. Louis? Are roads in the Chicagoland area even considered a public good even though you pay to drive on it? I got onto the Illinois Tollway

In John Steinbeck's 1939 novel ''The Grapes of Wrath" centered around the events of the Dust Bowl era, the Joad family was forced to move west from Oklahoma and the way to get there was to pack up all of their belongings in their Hudson truck and travel down the "Mother Road, United States Highway 66. Just like the Joad family many traveled down this Highway in order to get to the west coast, mainly California in order to find work to feed their starving families. It was a long journey for many of those families to get where they were going. Life on the road was difficult and challenging. Route 66 had a strong importance during this era and changed the way many people lived. This new highway may not have been all positive,

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