Transportation Enhancement

Transportation enhancements assisted in branching the development of a national economy. Also, people started demanding better roads as settlers moved west. In 1795 the Wilderness Road was opened to wagon and stagecoach traffic which was completed the same year. In 1794, a movement for graded and paved roads gathered momentum after the completion of the Philadelphia-Lancaster Turnpike. Also, over four thousand miles of turnpikes were completed by 1821. However, the turnpike boom was giving way to intense advances in water transportation by the early 1820’s. In the meantime, for cheaper prices people and commodities were being carried by river steamboats, flatboats, and canal barges. A more versatile form of transportation rapidly overtook the canal: the railroad. In 1825 the world’s first commercial steam railway began its operation. The railroad gained supremacy over other forms of transportation due to its speed, carrying capacity, and reliability. Also, railroads made it possible to transport people and freight farther, faster, and cheaper than ever before. Additionally, the ability of railroads to operate year-round in most types

In addition, transportation aided Americans in overcoming the challenges of traveling distances and helped increase markets for goods and services that led to essential modifications in production and manufactured goods. In addition, the innovations helped to spark enhancements in communications. It often took days and sometimes weeks at the beginning of the century for news to travel along the Atlantic seaboard. Furthermore, as the nineteenth century stretched, the quickness of communications enhanced significantly. Also, mail was beginning to be delivered by “express.” Consequently, the states and territories west of the Appalachian Mountains fought to get appropriate news and deliveries with such