Transportation, Mechanization, and the World Economy

The transferability of goods across space depends on adequate, cost-effective transportation. The availability of transportation, like production, creates value. The availability of transportation expands markets for products. This expansion has enabled producers to cut costs by increased product specialization. Throughout the world, mechanized transportation has become a key to economic development and integration into the world economy. Continued improvements in the efficiency of transportation have speeded the process of acculturation and have been crucial to the rapid rise of international trade that characterizes the contemporary world.

In some parts of the world, human labor and draft animals continue to provide transportation (Figure 9-1). In many East and Southeast Asian cities, transportation is provided by rickshaws, or open two-wheeled carts pulled by human beings serving as taxicabs. In Asia, Latin America, and Africa, people continue to carry heavy loads on their backs or heads for long distances. Relative to modern mechanical transportation, of course, this type of transportation is very costly in terms of time and labor.

Figure 9-1 Third World Transportation. In some parts of the world (Madras, India), human labor and draft animals continue to provide transportation. Advances in transportation facilities are not utilized because of economic, cultural, or physical reasons

Following the Industrial Revolution, mechanized transportation began to develop. Successive developments in new transportation technology resulted in dramatic declines in the friction of distance, or the cost of moving people and goods from place to place. Railroad trains powered by steam locomotives are capable of carrying their own fuel supplies. As a result, the cost of moving people and goods from one place to another declined dramatically. In the twentieth century, the internal combustion engine and aviation further revolutionized long-distance transportation. Today, the friction of distance between all but the most remote and inaccessible places is greatly reduced (Figure 9-2).

Figure 9-2 Reducing the Friction of Distance. The TGV high-speed trains traveling throughout the French countryside have become commonplace

Today, several distinct modes of transportation are used to move people and goods from one place to another. Trucks, railroad and water carriers, and aircraft all play important roles in contemporary industrial transportation. The relative importance of each varies in accordance with the type of freight moved and the distance to be overcome. In general, highways are more efficient than railroads for local and medium-distance movement of cargo. Highways are much more flexible than railroads or inland waterways, although their energy efficiency is relatively low. Because roads can be built much more cheaply than railroads or canals, road networks are more useful in responding quickly to changes in supply or demand.

Changes in Transportation and Spatial Interaction.Improvements in transportation technology spurredefforts to establish routes along which the more efficientnew forms of transportation could travel. After the steamboat was invented in 1818, canal construction was underway in many parts of Europe and the United States. Butbefore planned canals were completed, the advantages ofrail transportation relative to steam-powered boats hadbecome evident to many Americans and Europeans. Railtransportation proved more efficient because tracks werecheaper to construct and could connect more locationsthan canals. Canal building was prohibitively expensiveor impossible in mountainous regions, whereas railroadtracks could be built over mountains or in tunnels underneath them.

As the efficiency advantages of the railroad became increasingly evident in the latter part of the nineteenth century, location along major railroad lines became crucial to the economic development of many communities. Those communities located along major rail lines prospered, while those that were bypassed declined. Competition between communities for access to rail service was fierce.

In the twentieth century, automobiles and trucks became the most flexible means of interregional transportation. The innovation and mass diffusion of automotive transportation resulted in major road-building efforts. Prior to the twentieth century, many communities were connected by trails, dirt roads, or corduroy roads suitable for pedestrians, horses, or stagecoaches. As automobiles came increasingly into use, and as its convenience became apparent, people began to demand the construction and maintenance of all-weather roads suitable for motor vehicles.

In the United States, all-weather roads connecting individual communities began to be constructed in the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1950s, funds were initially authorized for construction and the Interstate Highway System (Figure 9-3). This system was designed to connect large Metropolitan areas with limited-access highways, bypassing small communities and eliminating the need for motorists to slow down during commutes between major cities.

Although the federal government provided most construction funds for the Interstate Highway System, the individual states were responsible for actual construction and maintenance. Within each state, communities clamored for highway access. The states themselves were eager to expedite construction of those highways that would provide access to major population centers in other states. Construction of roads to isolated or sparsely populated areas was often delayed or ignored.