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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm PhoebeZimmermann.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Doug Johnson. This week, travel back in time to explorethe history of transportation in the United States.

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VOICE ONE:

In eighteen-hundred, Americans elected Thomas Jefferson as theirthird president. Jefferson had a wish. He wanted to discover awaterway that crossed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. Hewanted to build a system of trade that connected people throughoutthe country. At that time the United States did not stretch all theway across the continent.

Jefferson proposed that a group of explorers travel across NorthAmerica in search of such a waterway. Meriwether Lewis and WilliamClark led the exploration west from eighteen-oh-three toeighteen-oh-six. They discovered that the Rocky Mountains dividedthe land. They also found no coast-to-coast waterway.

So Jefferson decided that a different transportation system wouldbest connect American communities. This system involved roads,rivers and railroads. It also included the digging of waterways.

VOICE TWO:

By the middle of the eighteen-hundreds, dirt roads had been builtin parts of the nation. The use of river steamboats increased. Boatalso traveled along man-made canals which strengthened localeconomies.

The American railroad system began. Many people did not believetrain technology would work. In time, railroads became the mostpopular form of land transportation in the United States.

In nineteenth-century American culture, railroads were more thanjust a way to travel. Trains also found their way into the works ofwriters like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and WaltWhitman.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen-seventy-six, the United States celebrated itsone-hundredth birthday. By now, there were new ways to move peopleand goods between farms, towns and cities. The flow of businesschanged. Lives improved.

Within those first one-hundred years, transportation links hadhelped form a new national economy.

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VOICE TWO:

Workers finished the first coast-to-coast railroad ineighteen-sixty-nine. Towns and cities could develop farther awayfrom major waterways and the coasts. But, to develop economically,many small communities had to build links to the railroads.

Railroads helped many industries, including agriculture. Farmershad a new way to send wheat and grain to ports. From there, shipscould carry the goods around the world.

Trains had special container cars with ice to keep meat, milk andother goods cold for long distances on their way to market.

People could now get fresh fruits and vegetables throughout theyear. Locally grown crops could be sold nationally. Farmers oftenhired immigrant workers from Asia and Mexico to plant, harvest andpack these foods.

VOICE ONE:

By the early nineteen-hundreds, American cities had grown. So,too, had public transportation. The electric streetcar became acommon form of transportation. These trolleys ran on metal tracksbuilt into streets.

Soon, however, people began todrive their own cars. Nelson Jackson and his friend, Sewall Crocker,were honored as the first to cross the United States in anautomobile. Their trip in nineteen-oh-three lasted sixty-three days.And it was difficult. Mainly that was because few good roads fordriving existed.

But the two men, and their dog Bud, also had trouble with theircar and with the weather. Yet, they proved that long-distance travelacross the United States was possible. The trip also helped fuelinterest in the American automobile industry.

VOICE TWO:

By nineteen-thirty, more than half the families in America ownedan automobile. For many, a car became a need, not simply anexpensive toy. To deal with the changes, lawmakers had to pass newtraffic laws and rebuild roads.

Cars also needed businesses to service them. Gas stations, tirestores and repair centers began to appear.

Many people took to the road for personal travel or to find work.The open highway came to represent independence and freedom. Duringthe nineteen-twenties and thirties, the most traveled road in theUnited States was Route Sixty-Six. It stretched from Chicago,Illinois, to the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, California. It wasconsidered the "people's highway."

VOICE ONE:

The writer John Steinbeck called Route Sixty-Six the "MotherRoad" in his book "The Grapes of Wrath." Hundreds of thousands ofpeople traveled this Mother Road during the Great Depression of thenineteen-thirties. They came from the middle of the country. Theymoved West in search of work and a better life.

In nineteen-forty-six, Nat King Cole came out with this song,called "Route Sixty-Six."

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VOICE TWO:

World War Two ended innineteen-forty-five. Soldiers came home and started families.Businesses started to move out to the edges of cities where suburbswere developing. Most families in these growing communities hadcars, bicycles or motorcycles to get around. Buses also becamepopular.

The movement of businesses and people away from city centers ledto the economic weakening of many downtown areas. City leadersreacted with transportation projects designed to support downtowndevelopment.

Underground train systems also became popular in thenineteen-fifties. Some people had enough money to ride on the newestform of transportation: the airplane.

VOICE ONE:

But for most automobile drivers, long-distance travel remainedsomewhat difficult. There was no state-to-state highway system. Innineteen-fifty-six Congress passed a law called the Federal-AidHighway Act. Engineers designed a sixty-five-thousand kilometersystem of roads. They designed highways to reach every city with apopulation over one-hundred-thousand.

The major work on the Interstate Highway System was completedaround nineteen-ninety. It cost more thanone-hundred-thousand-million dollars. It has done more than simplymake a trip to see family in another state easier. It has also ledto the rise of the container trucking industry.

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VOICE TWO:

The American transportation system started with horses and boats.It now includes everything from container trucks to airplanes tomotorcycles. Yet, in some ways, the system has been a victim of itsown success.

Many places struggle with traffic problems as more and more carsfill the roads. And a lot of people do not just drive cars anymore.They drive big sport utility vehicles and minivans and personaltrucks.

For others, hybrid cars are the answer. Hybrids use both gas andelectricity. They save fuel and reduce pollution. But pollution isnot the only environmental concern with transportation. Ease oftravel means development can spread farther and farther. And thatmeans the loss of natural areas.

Yet, every day, Americans depend on their transportation systemto keep them, and the largest economy in the world, on the move.

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VOICE ONE

The National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. has anew transportation exhibition. "America on the Move" explores theconnection to the economic, social and cultural development of theUnited States. And you can experience it all on the Internet atamericanhistory.si.edu. Again, the address isamericanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/exhibition

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jill Moss and produced by Caty Weaver.I'm Phoebe Zimmermann.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for the VOA SpecialEnglish program, THIS IS AMERICA.