"Don't you think that's a bit odd that a Sec. of Defense is helping to create freeways in country where its mainland cities had been attacked since 1819[?]?"
No. Do you know what sparked the idea of the interstates? Eisenhower, when he was in Europe, saw the German autobahn system. He saw how useful it could be for moving stuff internally in the country. And the interstate system had a link to civil defense. Not just in evacuations, the original plan was the embankments for overpasses was to have bomb shelters in them. They built a few, but not very many.
In Texas at least, the first interstates went in to connect the military bases with ports.
"When the first freeways opened in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, there was very few cars using them."
Say what? The first freeways were in California linking some of the most heavily populated areas. There certainly were cars to use them. In Texas, there was the stretch of I45 between Houston and Galveston. And it certainly was used.
Besides, what is the connection between the interstate system and the death of streetcars?
"GM was buying streetcar lines where they immediately cut service and forcing ridership to drop off"
Ridership was dropping off in cities where NCL didn't have a presence. What was the story there?
"Ironically, Cleveland sold its streetcars to Toronto....where those streetcars operated for another 35 years before they were retired permanently."
Yep. The streetcars themselves could last a very long time. The right of way, however, did not. It was expensive to build and expensive to maintain. Buses, however, used the roads. Which didn't cost the bus companies anything.
"Who benefited? GM and Ford, of course."
Sure they did. But, while follow the money is always something to consider, it is by no means foolproof. Just look at Harris and some of his harebrained theories.
Not that GM is any angel. But the death of streetcars was inevitable in the US. Not only was the Great Depression restricting funds to keep up and expand the streetcar systems, the changing technology with the rise of the automobile was stressing them. American city management is usually focused on growth at all costs. And it has only been relatively recently that mass transportation started to figure into the equation at all.
Our system is not set up to be far-sighted. We have short time horizons and, every once in a while, it catches up with us. Like with this current crisis with the financial system. |
