The Cold War: The Interstate Highway System

The construction of the transcontinental was a public/private partnership. The completion of the transcontinental railroad created a national economy. By 1900, there was not an area in the US that was not connected in some form by rail. The railroads transported consumer goods, people, supplies, and raw materials easily. The railroad allowed goods to be sold throughout the whole country, which in turn bolstered the US

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

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.

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.

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.

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

This act is historically significant because it was the largest public works in American history of that time. It also eased suburbanization and car transportation for Americans.

By the early 1800s, the US was quickly growing, but the only ways of transportation were by on foot, on animals, or by ship. By the mid 1800’s, ways of transportation drastically changed, greatly increasing mobility throughout America. First built were national roads, then the production of lengthy canals, and finally the railroad. These new forms of transportation has made it faster and more efficient to move materials to buyers and markets all around the

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

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.

With Congress granting the railroad companies millions of acres of public land, a new railroad project dubbed the Transcontinental Railroad underwent construction. The Transcontinental Railroad would drive travel time down from three months by methods conventional to the times to only eight days by railcar. With the Homesteader act, the Transcontinental Railroad, and goods being more readily available, people found it much easier to settle the Great Plains. However, the expanse of the railroads created a false sense of economic growth, and with banks and investors feeding into that growth, catastrophe would soon follow. More money was being spent on the railroads than the railroad could return. The end result of this would cause the closing

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.

New technologies improved agricultural and industrial productivity. Growing cities provided markets and workers for industrial businesses. Products were allowed to reach distant markets because of improved railroad

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).