SS8G2 The student will explain how the Interstate Highway ...



|SS8G2 The student will explain how the Interstate Highway System, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Georgia’s deepwater ports, and the|

|railroads help drive the state’s economy. Georgia’s four transportation systems have played a major role in the state’s economic development. |

|When the colony of Georgia was founded its location on the Atlantic Ocean and its deepwater ports such as Savannah and Sunbury made it part of|

|England’s international trading empire. Later, the development of the railroad created the city of Atlanta making it one of the first cities |

|in America that was not built near a navigable water route. In the 1920s Atlanta sought to and became a hub for the budding airline industry.|

|During the 1950s, Atlanta continued to be a major player in transportation as it became the southeastern center for three major interstate |

|highways. |

| |

|After studying this standard students will be able to explain how the four transportation systems interact to provide domestic and |

|international goods to Georgia’s citizens. Students will also be able to explain how these four transportation systems interact to provide |

|producers with the ability to send their goods to national and international markets. Finally, students will be able to explain how these four|

|transportation systems create jobs for Georgians. |

|a. Explain how the four |Georgia’s Four Transportation Systems |

|transportation systems interact to|Georgia’s four major transportation systems (air, water, rail, and highway) have been instrumental in the |

|provide domestic and international|economic growth and development of the state. The city of Savannah began as a major trading port, and with|

|goods to the people of Georgia. |each new technological advance Georgia, and primarily Atlanta, has been at the forefront of bringing these|

| |transportation innovations to the state. Each of these advancements has made it easy for the state to be |

|b. Explain how the four |involved in national and international trade, while creating thousands of jobs in Georgia. |

|transportation systems interact to|The Interstate Highway System |

|provide producers and service |In the 1930s the United States government began planning to create an interstate highway system that would|

|providers in Georgia with national|connect the major cities of the nation. It hoped that these highways would encourage economic growth and |

|and international markets. |development, along with improving the nation’s defense. However, the project did not go into full effect |

| |until the 1950s under President Eisenhower, who had seen the benefits of the German Autobahn firsthand |

|c. Explain how the four |during World War II. |

|transportation systems provide | |

|jobs for Georgians. |The state benefited from the highway system even more when Georgian Lucius D. Clay was appointed to lead |

| |the development and construction. General Clay, who was from Marietta, made sure that three of the |

| |intestates (i.e., I-20, I-75, I-85) went through Atlanta. This continued the city’s role as the |

| |southeast’s most important transportation hub. |

| | |

| |According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, today Georgia has 1,244 miles of interstate highway. Interstate|

| |95 connects Georgia to 16 states and important cities such as Miami, Richmond, Washington D.C., New York |

| |City, and Boston. Interstate 75 connects Georgia to the cities of Chattanooga, Cincinnati, and Detroit. |

| |Both of these interstates make it easy to transport goods to and from these major manufacturing centers. |

| | |

| |Six interstates are also used by Georgians to commute to their jobs in the metro Atlanta area. While these|

| |highways (I-20, I-75, I-85, I-285, I-585, and I-675) have been blamed for causing “urban sprawl” in the |

| |state, they can also be credited for bringing major national and international corporations to the city. |

| |In turn, suburbs were able to develop outside of Atlanta which has resulted in major road and housing |

| |construction throughout the area resulting in more jobs in the area |

| |Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport |

| |Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport one of the busiest airports in the world and is often |

| |in competition with Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport for the title of “busiest,” with more than 1000|

| |planes en route to or from the airport per day. According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia in an average |

| |month there are over 80,000 flights, 7 million passengers, and 53,700 metric tons of cargo that come into |

| |or out of Atlanta. As the interstate highways connect Georgia to the rest of the United States, the |

| |airport connects the state to the rest of the world. Flights from Atlanta go to five continents and are |

| |able to make it to these locations with no more than two stops. |

| | |

| |With its 32 airlines and 200 concession outlets the airport is one of the largest employers in the state. |

| |This does not include the thousands of other jobs such as M.A.R.T.A. employees, taxi cab drivers, and |

| |rental car customer service representatives that stem from the airport’s existence. Today, |

| |Hartsfield-Jackson continues to expand and its most recent addition, a new runway, occurred in 2006. |

| |Georgia’s Deepwater Ports |

| |The vast majority of products that are imported and exported arrive to their destinations via shipping. |

| |Georgia’s deepwater ports in Brunswick and Savannah are important in America’s international trade. |

| | |

| |The Brunswick port was key during World War II for building liberty ships (see Teacher Note SS8H9). Today |

| |it has three terminals and imports and it exports general cargo, dry bulk commodities, and seafood. It is |

| |also a primary port for the automobile industry, importing international brands such as Jaguar, Porsche, |

| |and Volvo, while exporting American brands Ford and General Motors. |

| | |

| |The Savannah port is located on the same site as Mary Musgrove’s trading post (see Teacher Note SS8H2). It|

| |too was an important ship building facility during World War II. From 2001-2005 it was the nation’s fasted|

| |growing port and, as of 2007, it became the fourth busiest port in the United States. It primarily |

| |handles automobile and container cargo. In addition, national and international businesses such as Target |

| |and IKEA have built distribution centers at the port. |

| | |

| |Railroads |

| |Georgia has a long history with the railroad industry. While South Carolina was the first state in the |

| |nation to build a railroad line in 1830, Georgia soon followed by creating several of their own, which |

| |were created to link cities such as Athens, Augusta, and Savannah. Eventually, Georgia had more rail lines|

| |than any other state in the Deep South. In turn, many of Georgia’s towns and cities, including Atlanta, |

| |were created due to the railroad (see Teacher Note SS8H5). |

| | |

| |While the railroad dominated transportation in the state for over 130 years, the development of the |

| |interstate highway system led to a decline of the railroads in the 1960s and 1970s. However, railroads are|

| |still important to the state’s economy today. Georgia has over 5000 miles of railroad track bringing goods|

| |into and away from the state. For the most part Georgia’s railroad freight industry is dominated by two |

| |companies, CSX and Norfolk Southern, while Amtrak provides passenger service to New York, Washington D.C.,|

| |and New Orleans. |

| | |

| |These transportation systems are interconnected. For example, automobiles that arrive in Georgia’s ports |

| |are loaded onto both trains and trucks (that use the interstate highway system) and are transported |

| |throughout the United States. In |

| |turn, American companies use trains and trucks to send their goods to the port of Savannah to be shipped |

| |to foreign markets. |

| | |

| |*Georgia’s four transportation systems (rail, highway, air, and shipping) are important to Georgia’s |

| |economic development. *In an expository paragraph, choose one of the transportation systems and explain |

| |how it creates jobs for Georgia’s citizens. Make sure to cite specific examples that you learned in class.|

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| | |

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|c. Explain how the four transportation systems provide|Georgia’s four transportation systems (rail, highway, air, and shipping) are important to Georgia’s |

|jobs for Georgians. |economic development. In an expository paragraph, choose one of the transportation systems and explain how |

| |it creates jobs for Georgia’s citizens. Make sure to cite specific examples that you learned in class. |

|* |

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