Question

How has the automobile changed the United States landscape? Has it been beneficial to our country or harmful?

Answer 1

There is little doubt that the widespread use of the automobile changed the countryside and urban landscapes in America , particularly after 1920. However, it is overly simplistic to assume that the car was the single driving force in rural transformation or city modernisation. Automotive transport has been a crucial agent of change in some ways, but in other cases it has merely accelerated ongoing changes.

In many ways, the car made its effect felt first in rural areas where on weekends automobiles were used for traveling and entertainment, as opposed to replacing the traditional transport that took people to and from urban jobs. Some of the first paved highways, along scenic paths, were landscaped parkways. Of course, when urban drivers rutted unpaved roads, kicked up dust and generally scared or even injured livestock, rural people were not always very pleased. Nevertheless, cars may actually help solve rural issues isolation, the high cost of shipping farm goods, and farm labour.

As car sales rose, demand for fuel led to a more organized way of distribution, and Standard Oil of California opened a chain of 34 standardized stations along the West Coast in 1914. Soon fuel pumps were installed not only at the new service stations, but also in front of hardware stores, feed companies, livery stables, and a number of other retailers. Curbside pumping was less common in the countryside, but popular in cities, where filling stations grew. As with early tourist camps, the first service stations could be turned into barns, stables, or warehouses a cry far from today's multi-purpose facilities.

Accommodation in the car through a restoration of the road system and the city in general came with a price, just as the railroad and the streetcar had been introduced before it. Building new roads and highways within towns damaged human and animal habitats; dislocating or even destroying neighborhoods especially those with little political clout; and endangering plant life and wildlife. Runoff from roads and highways oil and grease, asphalt particles, tire rubber, sand and salt from the buildup of snow and ice all contribute to non-point pollution making its way into waterways.

Although U.S. car sales in China have increased dramatically, the European market for U.S. automobiles is struggling. GM has announced significant cost-cutting measures amid its large profits. If the U.S. economy continues it is apparent, though the recovery is slow and not yet too vigorous, auto sales are also likely to improve. Americans love and need their motor vehicles for work, company, and leisure, and as the nation prospers the American auto-making industry will prosper. But it might take some time.