Sustainable Transportation Part 2: History

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Canals to Cars: History of the Transportation Problem

To improve the current system of transportation in the United States, it is important to identify how this system came to be and why it is important. During the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, the US had a humble, slow, and expensive transportation system, yet it would evolve rapidly over time.[1] Much of the evolution of transportation was a result of three key factors: the necessity of a fast and affordable means of transportation, increasing per capita income, and the proliferation of the automobile.

Continental transportation was a great burden to the US shipping industry in the 18^th and early 19^th century. It suffered from three serious problems: slow speed, high costs, and irregular service.[2] This had serious commercial ramifications. For instance, shipping perishables was often impossible, and shipping goods over long distances infrequently occurred due to high transportation costs. Furthermore, because the United States economy was focused on international trade, internal transportation improvements, such as building and maintaining roads, were ignored.[3]

However, President Jefferson embargoed foreign trade in 1807, thus increasing the importance of domestic commerce and sparking internal improvements in transportation which would be known as the Transportation Revolution.[4] Improvements included the construction of turnpikes, canals, the railroad system, and street railways.[5]^{, [6]}

These transportation improvements were primarily made to reduce the costs of transporting goods. In an economic model, the transportation improvements shifted the supply (marginal cost) curve of goods down, increasing the market quantity and lowering the market price of goods.[7] In theory, this results in an increase in societal surplus, and is economically efficient.

In addition to reducing the cost of transporting goods, these innovations made it more convenient to live outside city centers. Street railways began expanding into the countryside, [8] offering some individuals who valued lower-density living highly the opportunity to live outside the city while still holding a job inside it. In effect, transportation improvements increased land values along the new transportation routes, as land in sparsely populated areas near a transportation route became more valuable. [9]

Yet these innovations had a miniscule effect on transportation compared to the proliferation of the automobile. The automobile industry exploded in popularity in the early 1900s. In 1900, 4000 vehicles in total were manufactured, yet by 1909, 10,000 were produced by Ford Motor Company alone.[10] The automobile offered significant advantages over any form of public transit, namely convenience, speed, and comfort. Once Americans had tasted the benefits of owning automobiles, they did not want to return to a reliance on public transportation.

The automobile increased already present incentives to live outside the city. In 1909, the National Conference on City Planning and the Problems of Congestion met. They asserted that “disease, poverty, darkness, and the vice of the industrial city were caused by high-density living.”[11] However, before the invention of the automobile, the costs of moving away from a densely populated city were often greater than the benefits for many individuals, because they would be too far away from work without a cost-effective means of getting in to the city. Yet when the automobile became popular and affordable due to mass production, individuals could move outside the city and commute in to their jobs every day. Thus, automobiles were a driving force (pun intended) in the emergence of suburbia.

Finally, increasing per capita income has had a significant effect on the development of American transportation. As per capita income has risen, a two things have happened. First, more individuals have had the ability to purchase cars. Secondly, fuel has become a relatively smaller percentage of an individual’s total budget. These two factors led to the fact that nearly every 21^st century American owns a car, and there is relatively little concern over fuel economy or the distance one must commute to work.

Today, per capita incomes are growing higher, and automobiles are becoming more prevalent. This has resulted in more people moving from dense urban areas to suburbs, while buying more cars and more fuel per capita. Although this is beneficial in that it increases mobility, the external costs of this transportation system are significant. These external costs should be addressed, while at the same time preserving the benefits of mobility.

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[1] Jeremy Atack and Peter Passel, A New Economic View of American History, 2nd ed. (New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 1994). 143.[2] Atack and Passel, 143.

[3] Atack and Passel, 144.

[4] Atack and Passel, 144-145.

[5] Atack and Passel, 144-152.

[6] Kent Healey, The Economics of Transportation In America (New York, NY: Ronald Press Company, 1940). 16.

[7] Atack and Passel, 165.

[8] Healey, 16.

[9] Atack and Passel, 167 - 169

[10] Healey, 16.

[11] Black and Nijkamp, 23