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Chapter 9
that if you couldmove a train by a steam
engine, you couldmove a wheeled vehicle
by a steam engine. In the early 1900s, the
Stanley Steamer car was thought to be the
better product. However, scientists kept
improving the gasoline engine. It won the
competition as the cheaper, more practical
means of transporting goods and people.
The car industry was ready for
Pennsylvania, but our state was not ready
for the car industry just yet. Road building
went into hibernation for much of the
1800s. The car brought a demand for better
roads. Travel by car became so popular that
our state added 4,000moremiles of road.
What do you get when you add a
gasoline engine to a ConestogaWagon or a
closed-in railroad car? Hopefully, you will
get some kind of truck. The first truck was
built in1903. Theywereusedmainly in the
cities because they could not handle the
muddy roads. The Mack Truck Company
formed in
Allentown
. The first modern
trailer truck, as we know it today, was built
in 1935. Today, the newer double trailer
hook up allows trucks to haul greater
amounts of goods across our state and
nation. In the 2000s, trucks deliver two out
of threeof Pennsylvania’s goods tomarkets.
There aremore than 150,000 trucks that
move goods in our state. There are over
1,700 major truck
terminals
in our state.
Terminals are places where trailers are
storeduntil they areneeded tomove goods.
Truck companies pay about one-half of the
taxes for road building and road repair. You
can see how important our systems of
highways are to the trucking industry.
Highways, Roads,
and Pipelines
O
ur systems of roads are made up of
local roads, state roads, national
roads, and
interstate
roads.
Interstatemeans that a road crosses the state,
andmaybe other states, without stop lights.
Pennsylvaniawas a pioneer andworld leader
in developing its system of highway travel.
In 1940, the first four-lane, non-stop, toll
highway, now known as the
Pennsylvania
Turnpike
, was opened. Because this road
ran east and west across our state, and
connected Philadelphia with Pittsburgh, it
was called an interstate highway.
This interstate turnpike was a huge
Pennsylvania turnpike workers.
