Transportation Revolution PDF

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Carol Atkinson-Palombo...

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City Size ○ Most rural areas centered around a village and cities rarely exceeded a 5 km diameter ○ The largest cities prior to the industrial revolution, such as Rome, Beijing, Constantinople, or Venice never surpassed an area of 20 square km ○ Large cities above 100,000 were very rare and those who exceed such a population did so because they were at the nexus of maritime and land trade networks ○ Prior to the industrial revolution, it was difficult t o speak of an urban system, but rather of a set of relatively self-sufficient economic systems with very limited trade Transportation Innovations ○ Before the Industrial Revolution, there was a time lag in almost everything that took place in US ■ Took weeks or months to send a letter or pass information/packages/goods ○ Space/time convergence ■ Before, would take a year for a ship to navigate the globe ● Steamship could go twice as fast as sail ship ● Trains could go 60 mph ■ 1950 ● Airplane ■ 1990s ● Communication did not have to involve physical messages instantaneous through email, fax, etc. Five Elements of Transportation Revolution ○ Roads ■ The National Road (or Cumberland Road) ● Started in 1881 ● Ran from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois ● Connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers ● Became a gateway to the West for settlers ● Plans were made to continue to St. Louis, Missouri ● Was connected to various toll roads to the East, extending the road to Baltimore and Chesapeake Bay ○ River traffic ■ Before the IR, rivers were the easiest and the fastest way to transport goods from the North to the South because the river’s current carried all of the goods to where they needed to go ■ Keelboats allowed one to go upstream, against the current ● Built around a rigid timber in the middle with sails ○ Steamboats ■ Invention of steam engine ■ 1787 - John Fitch demonstrates first steamboats ● 12 paddles and propelled by steam engine ■ 1787 - James Rumsey creates the world’s first boat moved by jet propulsion ■ 1804 - John Stevens builds a steamboat with a new high-pressure steam engine ■ Robert Fulton was the first to accomplish building steamboats that could carry

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passengers and cargo ● 133-foot steamboat, the Clermont 1807 - Fulton’s boat makes a journey from NYC to Albany 1830s - steamboats were the convention ● Promoted trade ● Transportation

Canals ■ Man-made waterways ■ Connect cities by water and make inland transportation quicker and easier ■ Erie Canal ● 363 miles ● Connected Albany to the Hudson River with Buffalo, NY ● Connected Great Lakes to the Hudson River ■ “Canal-mania” ● State governments rushed to connect cities and regions with rivers and lakes ■ Changes in US Travel Time ● 1830 - improved road network minimizes travel times ○ In 1800, it could take you 40 days to get somewhere that you could now access in 2 weeks ○ Railroads - most significant ■ Carried goods for short distances ■ Developed to carry passengers/goods long distance ■ The first American railway launched in 1826 ● The Baltimore and Ohio ■ Problems ● Expensive ● Hastily built ● Accidents and delays ● Different companies used different widths of track, so only certain trains could travel on certain railroads ■ In 1830 Robert Livingston Stevens solved this problem by designing an iron Tshaped rail ● Grew from 3,000 miles to 30,000 miles in only 20 years ● Shipping costs decreased and industry expanded ● Contributed to Market Revolution The Four Eras of Transportation ○ I - Walking/Horsecar Era ■ Cities were primarily walking cities ■ Limited to a fairly small distance ○ II - Streetcar Era ■ Streetcars emerged, going along specific routes ● Access to downtown ● Increased size

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● Faster travel time ■ Expansion along spokes III - Automobile Era ■ Didn’t need to be located around a transportation corridor ■ People could live anywhere and still have access to downton IV - Highway Era ■ Fast, streamlined travel ■ Opened up geographic area - not confined to downtown era ● III and IV Eras are eras of suburbanization - people move out of central cities into spread out suburbs ○ Exacerbated issues ■ 50s-70s - people with means move out of cities and into suburbs - “White flight” ● People with fewer resources were left in the center of the cities ○ Issues with taxation, access to amenities, etc....