VOICE ONE:
But for most automobile drivers, long-distance travel remained somewhat difficult. There was no state-to-state highway system. In nineteen-fifty-six Congress passed a law called the Federal-Aid Highway Act. Engineers designed a sixty-five-thousand kilometer system of roads. They designed highways to reach every city with a population over one-hundred-thousand.
Traffic moves through the interstate highway system in Atlanta, GeorgiaThe major work on the Interstate Highway System was completed around nineteen-ninety. It cost more than one-hundred-thousand-million dollars. It has done more than simply make a trip to see family in another state easier. It has also led to the rise of the container trucking industry.
(MUSIC: "Truckin")
VOICE TWO:
The American transportation system started with horses and boats. It now includes everything from container trucks to airplanes to motorcycles. Yet, in some ways, the system has been a victim of its own success.
Many places struggle with traffic problems as more and more cars fill the roads. And a lot of people do not just drive cars anymore. They drive big sport utility vehicles and minivans and personal trucks.
For others, hybrid cars are the answer. Hybrids use both gas and electricity. They save fuel and reduce pollution. But pollution is not the only environmental concern with transportation. Ease of travel means development can spread farther and farther. And that means the loss of natural areas.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25