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 …show more content…
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
Similar to the light bulb’s legacy of ideas, the transcontinental railroad paved the way for new transportation. “The transcontinental railroad act is the first step in creating a continental common market.” This quote by, Charles R. Morris, defines the wide-spread uprising in the American Economy after establishing a railroad that would last a lifetime. The Transcontinental Railroad economically transformed America because of the trade and commerce it brought. Now capable of fast communication, we could quickly and cheaply of transport goods and ourselves. t’s wide impact developed a independent country were we could efficiently practice a free enterprise. Bringing in trade, shipping and new exports/imports, it elevated our economy to a higher level of technology.
With the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, it boosted the US economy, opened rich farmland to people, and reduced shipping and transportation time. Although the railroad was a large investment for the US it made up for
The market revolution was a relatively rough time for American settlers. Life was pretty hard because of the quick, drastic changes that were taking place, but these changes also resulted in a very good factor of America that still stands today serving every citizen, transportation. So while the market revolution was stressing the Americans, there was a large book in population, and the increase of transportation, which would cut travel times by whole days at a time. The changes of the market revolution may sound like they were rushed into existence, the markets actually just naturally evolved.
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.
It was very clear to many after the war of 1812 that only large-scale resources available to state and federal governments could make a practical difference their transportation. Transportation was very highly risky and very uncomfortable. Immediately after the war of 1812, a political prodigy, John Calhoun, introduced legislation in Congress to finance a national transportation program tying the South and West to the rest of the nation. Congress approved it, but James Madison vetoed the bill stating that the Constitution did not authorize federal spending on such projects. But finally, Calhoun won Madison’s support by convincing the president that a government-funded national road between Cumberland, Maryland, and Wheeling, Virginia, was a military and postal necessity, therefore initial expenditure of $20,000 for the Cumberland Road was constitutional. So the construction began in 1815.
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.
The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.
Railroads were the linchpin in the new industrialized economy. The railroad industry enabled raw materials, finished products, food, and people to travel cross-country in a matter of days, as opposed to the months or years that it took just prior to the Civil War. By the end of the war, the United States boasted some 35,000 miles of track, mostly in the industrialized North. By the turn of the century, that number had jumped to almost 200,000 miles, linking the North, South, and West. With these railroads making travel easier, millions of rural Americans flocked to the cities, and by 1900, nearly 40 percent of the population lived in urban areas.
Transportation began to fuel the American economy during the Market Revolution by adding many different ways to transport goods and to get around the country. These roads were made of mud, which happened to be quite an issue during the different seasons. In the spring,all roads turned to mud, in the summer all roads were dust and in the winter these roads were snow and ice which made it difficult to travel on. The national road was made and was the only road funded by the national government, all of the other roads were funded by private investors. The national road opened up travel through the East and the West, which began to help foster a national community. Canals were starting to expand from not only running North and South, but creating ways to get East and West as well.The farmers began an eight year long project, which was taken over by Irish immigrants and they created the Erie
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
Business growth on both sides of the country was expedited by a new form of cheap distribution into profitable, expanding markets. Easy transportation facilitated the concept of business travel and expansion on an unprecedented scale. However, some of the largest impacts of the Transcontinental Railroad can be seen through the crosscountry exchange of ideas. Before the railroad existed, the only fast exchange of information was written through the pony express. The Transcontinental Railroad created an outlet of communicating new ideas and information in person. A smooth and swift crosscountry exchange of people and ideas not only made America more infrastructurally sophisticated it acted as a foundation for the Western United States to grow from very little to the political, social, economic, and technological center that it is today.
Socially, the Transcontinental Railroad enormously affected the United States. Once the railroad completed in 1869, traveling anywhere was less demanding and more affordable. Before finishing the railroad, going across country took half a year or longer, and cost around one thousand dollars. After the completion of the railroad, traveling across the nation cost nearly one hundred and fifty dollars and travel time was close to seven days.[4] Since there was
Over time, transportation has shown to have an incredible impact on the United States. It has revealed to bring about economic and social changes in various ways. In the late eighteenth century ancient methods of traveling were still in use in America and it was often very slow. Americans were aware that if transportation advancement occurred, it would potentially increase foreign trade, increase land values as well as strengthen the American economy. In the mid 1800s it has been determined that transportation advancement has a drastic effect on our
Transportation was improved. New forms of transportation included steam power, improved roads, railroads, bridges, canals and ships. These new improved mean of transportation allowed people to travel cross country and to ship goods to new markets in a matter of days as opposed to months. The railroads eventually became the nation’s number one transportation system, and remained so until the construction of the interstate highway halfway during the Twentieth century. The late 19th century belonged to the railroads. They were of crucial importance in stimulating economic expansion (American History).
The Cold War was a time of competition, vast technological improvements, and even philanthropic efforts. Foundations such as the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, who were based in the United States, started expanding to reach the third world. Post-World War I and World War II the United States did not want to get involved in another world war. The foundations that expanded to reach the third world, were interested in preventing communism from taking over as the form government in those countries.