Mass Transit in the Southern States: Past and Present America South, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The Southern United States also known as American South is a region made up of several cities with a unique history and an interesting allure of cultural heritage. The growth and civilization of the Southern United States came with wide spread urbanization. This was marked by a three pronged change in the towns as they changed to cities. The towns gradually changed by changing these three aspects namely growth in population increase in their number as well as expansion of their area. (Bromley, 51). These changes occurred concurrently and they where spurred mostly by the pressures of population and eventually culminated in the annexing of these southern cities. The major urban centers were ringed and eventually got joined to these small towns and they amalgamated to form the towns. With this annexing, not only did the population of the cities grow but also their area expanded significantly. The old South consists of Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Georgia. The North Carolina is for example is made up of three different metropolises namely the Metrolina, the Triad and the Piedmont

The other fact that faced the southern cities was the racial situation that existed in the early day of the 20^th century. It is in the southern cities where the big cotton plantations existed in their largest expanses. Similarly, the use of slaves as a source of cheap affordable labour. This was later to be a major push factor that occasioned the migration that characterised the transit in the later times. The annexing of these southern states made them to not only become highly populous but also have major political influence in the United States. The Southern cities were faced with a major problem of racism. As the blacks sought to move to new cities that had more respect for the rights of the blacks, so were they propelled to other cities hence triggering a spate of migrations. Though in the 1840s the southern cities were the richest due to the wealth derived from cotton, rice and Indigo farming, the situation was rather different towards the end of the century.

With the advent of the civil war, the situation of the infrastructure albeit not initially well developed, deteriorated to extremely poor, this led to the collapse of crop agriculture and eventual failure of the region as a financial hub of the region. These poor economic conditions were part of the problems that also triggered the eventual migration that was to characteristics of the region.

Racial segregation was the other factor in the south that contributed to its history. According to McElrath, the Jim Crow laws perpetrated racial injustices and dissent among the different societies. These laws, upon their enactment promoted the segregation of the whites, and the colored and this led to the creation of segregated, public parks, schools and even at some point, there was legislation barring white workers in textile industries from mixing with their black counterparts in South Carolina Barbara J. The advent of these discriminatory laws was after the reconstruction period and this eventually led to racial flare-ups between the two groups. These factors were magnified by the several court rulings that set precedence for a racially biased society. In 1913 President Woodroy Wilson ordered the racial segregation of the civil service. This coupled with these court rulings demonstrated the lack of commitment of the political establishment to end racial segregation (Wikipedia). While these factors acted push reason for the migrations, the fact that those from the North did not agree with the southerner’s treatment of the blacks acted as a pull factor for the migration and mass transit that characterised these Southern cities.

Mass or public transit comprises passenger transportation services available for the general public use .It can consist of vanpool services, commuter trains, trolleys and light trail, buses, subways, ferries, water taxis, monorails or paratransit services for people with disabilities and senior citizens. Public transportation is provided by authorities that operate a fleet of vehicles and may or may not be regulated by authorities. This mode of transportation may share infrastructure with private vehicles or use an exclusive. The development of an efficient rails system came as a solution to the various problems of mobility that faced the urban populace. (Middleton, 12)

The Research Triangle

The Research Triangle is a region in the peak of Carolina in the United States bordered by the cities of Durham, Raleigh and Chapel Hill.  The name “Triangle” was cemented in 1950s same time as the Research Triangle Park which provides home to many enterprises and high-tech companies. The region officially named as Raleigh- Durham-Cary (CSA) has eight countries with one micropolitan and two metropolitan statistical areas: Raleigh-Cary and Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area. It is in this region where the research Universities of the North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University are located. The triangle now used to refer to the geographical region, was originally used to refer to these Universities.

The population of this region at the 2000 census was 1,314,589. Cary, the third biggest municipality in the Triangle had a population of 94,536 at the 2000 census and its population is estimated to have grown to 134,000 by 2009 hence it became the biggest town and the seventh biggest municipality in the whole state. Cary was rated the United States 5^th fastest growing municipality between September 2006 and September 2007 and 2008.

Transportation in the Research Triangle

The Triangle is served by a partnership system of several public transportation systems.   The system that serves Durham is known as Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) while Capital Area Transit, transit system for the municipal serves Raleigh with Chapel Hill Transit serving Chapel Hill. Cary has also its own public transit systems. Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) now called Triangle Transit works together with the other area systems of transit by providing transfers between the routes of other systems and its own routes. The TTA also organizes an extensive rideshare and vanpool program which provides service to the larger employers in the region and transit destinations. The Triangle Transit agency has plans to merge the municipal transit systems in the area in the Triangle Transit and to build a regional rail system to join downtown Raleigh and Durham downtown with stops in the Triangle park area and suburban stops .The transportation, local business and government leaders committee has also proposed anew blueprint of transit for the region with bus rapid transit as well as several forms of rail transit. (Regional Transit Needs)

Three major interstate highways (I-95, I-40and I-85) serve the Triangle. I-40 and I-85 diverge from each other in Orange county.I-40 heads southeast via Southern Durham and is the primary freeway via Raleigh.I-85travels northeast through the county of northern Durham toward Virginia.  Highway 147 of North Carolina or the Durham Freeway, a limited-access freeway  joins I-40 with I-85 in the county of southeastern Durham. This four-lane route crosses through   Durham downtown and stretches through the Research Triangle Park.  It is also used in the Chapel Hill area as an alternate route for I-40  in times when there is  congestion , road accidents or delays due to road construction. Routes 15, 64 and 1 are the primary routes serving this region as multilane highways or limited access freeways. Route 1 enters the region as Claude E.Pope Memorial Highway and joins with 64 at suburban and travels towards Raleigh.

American Airlines started its services to Raleigh-Durham international Airport (RDU) in1985 .In 1986, RDU opened 5L-23R a 3,000m runway.

The Integrated Metropolis Concept

A metropolis is defined as a large city mostly with a population of a minimum of one million living in the cities urban agglomeration and over 0.5 million people in the city proper. It is normally a key political, cultural and economical region (Metropolis Association).the United States Census Bureau gives its definition of a metropolis as an area that is urbanized and has a population of not less than 50,000 residents. The aim of such parameters is to ensure such an area has fiscal solubility and that proper consideration is given to its infrastructural requirements. The region of Cary in America South has an estimated population of 94,000 this fits the bill as a metropolitan and the figures a product of constant mobility of the populace in the region. The region is made up of different towns interlinked and with constant human mobility between them (US Census Bureau). The North Carolina is for example is made up of three different metropolises namely the Metrolina, the Triad and the Piedmont (Wikipedia). This shows the extent of annexing of the different areas to form the combined metropolis.

The Research Triangle Park

According to Link & Albert , the Research Triangle Park(RTP) is the largest research park in the United States located in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina and near Raleigh Chapel Hill and Durham with a small part of the of the park stretching into the wake county (31). The park which is United States most outstanding high-tech and development centers was created in1959 by local and state governments near local business interests and Universities. The park is located in a 7,000 acres piece of land in a pine forest.630 acres of this land is used for development with over 130 research and development facilities existing as of 2007. It houses one of the GlaxoSmithKline’s biggest research and development centers. It is also home to IBM’s largest operations in the world, a company with 11,000 employees in the Research Triangle Park. The Park is under the management of a private non-profit organization called Research Triangle Foundation.

The Struggle for Mass Transit

In the earlier days, mass transit was not developed due to lack of penetration into these territories.  The changes that faced the region upon the collapse of Agriculture and the subsequent need for transport as the populace sought means of transport to access the industrial establishments where there were jobs as well as the need to move for trade purposes (Wood, 23). The need for mobility saw the rich white populace move to fill the gap that existed and exploit the need for the transport facilities thereby establishing the mass transit systems that started to take shape. According to Wood, the need that required to be addressed was that for a fast efficient and predictable and affordable mass transit system. The situation improved to rather high standard where in current times, the region is served by several well established mass transit systems that serve the annexed cities with large numbers of operating buses frequenting these routes. As an example, the Charlotte Area Transport Authority (CATS) operates a total 76 transport buses frequenting the area and operating on established routes. The Norfolk rail has been stalled severally by the Georgia General Assembly despite having Federal Funding (Wikipedia). This is further proof that the political commitment to solve the mass transit problem is wanting by all standards.

The mass transit system was established to not only alleviate the gridlock problem that existed between the states but also to open up the metropolis to the proper communication with the annexed cities. It was also a way of creating convenience of travel and thereby helping solve the transport problem of the region at the time. According to Encarta, the transport system was geared towards creating the connectivity necessary to open up the area to transport lumber, chemical as well as non metallic minerals (Encarta) The need to transport these materials and open up the region to other areas is what drove the development of the rail system. In 1840 the Wilmington- Raleigh rail was completed making it the longest railroad in the world at 259 Kilometers (Ainsley).

Gradual development has seen the area currently boast of having several mass transit operations. Many residents favor the mass transit system because of among other things the convenience the offer to the inhabitants. As Wood puts it, due to the convenience of this mass transit system, the people of the region can now move with more ease and stay out longer since they have the assurance that the means to get back to their homes will not be a big challenge when the time to do so comes. Besides the convenience that mass transit affords the locals, many also believe that the mass transit helps alleviate the environmental hazards that are caused by too much exhaust wastes in occasioned by individual ridership. According to Gislason, car emissions in the US had reached an all time high of 7 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2004. This portrays the extent that personal transportation can harm the environment. The mass transit however uses rail transport which is electricity powered hence less pollution besides, it also reduces the number of individual vehicles on the road.

The other reason given by the supporters of mass transit is the efforts geared towards creating a seamless region transportation network in the entire region. The mass transit will help spur economic activity since people will be able to move to their work places outside their home areas with ease and get back to these homes after work therefore ensuring that their social and economic lives are not disrupted (Weyrich & Lind). This ability of the mass transit system to connect all the annexed areas does not only open them up for proper trade in goods but also create a good link between them that can help increase the local tourism mobility in the region.

Mass transit has however attracted its fair share of opponents. Many people believe that there has been a rapid decline in the number of people who use the mass transit system to travel in the region. According to Weyrich & Lind there has been over a 5% decline in the usage of public mass transit services in the period between 1980 and 1990. This is a great decline that could rather be called a nosedive. However the same writers venture to explain that the decline was not just occasioned by the unwillingness of the public to use the mass transit but other factors such as the unavailability of the system as well as the fact that the population has also been growing steadily. This implies that the percentage of the population might have decreased but the actual number of people using the mass transit has actually increased.

One of the solutions provided by the opponents of the mass transit system as an alternative is to construct an efficient highway network. This will be geared towards developing a good easy movement for the people using personal transport. This will unlock the constant traffic gridlock in the area. The increased mobility and ease of transportation will enable the people to enjoy the convenience of this personal travel and enable them to move with more ease as opposed to mass transit which will subject people to strict time schedules of the transport system (Murin, 27).

The other argument is the convenience afforded by personal transportation. The mass transit system might be convenient and efficient; however it can never measure up to the efficiency of personal transportation. This is due to the fact that in using the mass transit system, one has to keep in line with the schedules as well as connecting different means to get to the destination. This is a proposition that is not considered very attractive for many. The number of people who can afford personal travel has risen over the years and so has the number that opposes mass transit (Weyrich & Lind). The fact that the number of people who prefer to use the mass transit is very low has been overly emphasized as an argument against the development and use of the mass transit as a means of transportation. Those fronting this argument have however failed to bear in mind the fact that there are other advantages that can outweigh this argument.

The race issue has also been a factor in that in earlier times the blacks could not afford personal transport and the whites preferred the situation to remain this way. This was because they could use the transport system alone without having to mix or integrate with the blacks. More to it the Jim Crow laws worked to increase the racial dissent by stipulating that the different communities were to exist separately and setting even the transport facilities and public amenities like schools aside for use by the different races (McElrath). This was part of the reasons why the opposition to the establishment of a integrated mass transit system was vehemently opposed by the white population in the start since it threatened to disregard the hitherto established racial barriers. The Triangle transport authority then sought to establish a transport system that served all and worked to the advantage of all its users. To forestall such a move the opponents sought all the likely ways to avoid such an eventuality coming to pass since the problem of transport was not their problem.

The other factor that made the mass transit strategies quite unpopular was due to the fact that the authorities sought to levy 1% sales tax to finance the infrastructure for the mass transit system. This was a move that many opposed especially those who felt that they could afford their own transport. The levy as well as the federal funding that was set aside for the development of the mass transit was viewed by many as a populist move. They conservatists argued that it did not put into consideration the fact that the value that the mass transit system was to add to the triangle was not significant enough to justify such expenditure (Weyrich & Lind). The tax being imposed is non discriminative and its not levied with any regard as to whether one need the mass transit or not. This makes such citizens refuse to bear the burden for the construction of such a mass transit system that the feel they do no need.

Conclusion

Many arguments have been fronted in opposition to the mass transit system. These are arguments that are informed by many prejudices that have faced the region and which form its history. Most important many feel that the mass transit system opens the region not only to intrusive tendencies of outsiders but also the effects of excessive movement of the resources from the region. Above all these is the fact that there were many racial prejudices with the whites prefer to maintain the status quo where they were the only ones with the privilege of having their own personal transport.

The advantages of developing an efficient mass transit system are so many and by far outweigh the disadvantages. First is the fact that the mass transit system is aimed at being all inclusive and to cater for those that can afford a personal transport and those that cannot. This is a better option since even those that can afford personal transport might need to make use of these mass transit needs. Secondly is the need to ease the traffic congestion by providing people with alternative transport thereby encouraging them to leave their personal transport at home and hence reducing the traffic on the roads significantly. The other factor is the cost effectiveness of the mass transit system, the authority aims at imposing a flat rate levy for the transport facilities thereby making it affordable to travel to all points of the metropolis. The factor of social and economic viability is also important since people will e bale to travel and work outside their homes and still mange to live within their local environs. The mass transit is also a environmentally friendly means of movement besides opening up the metropolis for more intensive and profitable trade with the other regions. Plainly put, the mass transit is the way to go and it’s an idea whose time has hence it cannot be resisted.

Works Cited

Ainsley Frank.  Economic Activities of North Carolina. Encarta. 2006.

Bromley David & Smith Joel. The Historical Significance of Annexation as a social process.  Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin. 2007.

Fields, Barbara J. “Ideology and Race in American History.” in J. Morgan Kousser and James M. McPherson (eds) Region, Race, and Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of C. Vann Woodward. (New York / Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982): 163.

Gislason Stephen, Cars air pollution and health. February 2009, 19 July 2009. <http://www.nutramed.com/environment/cars.htm>.

Goldfield, David R. Region, Race, and Cities: Interpreting the Urban South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 1997.

Link, Albert N. A Generosity of Spirit: The Early History of the Research Triangle Park. Research Triangle Park: Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina. 1995.

McElrath J. Creation of Jim Crow South. February 06.19 July 2009 <http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/jimcrowlaw1/a/creationjimcrow.htm>

Middleton, William D. Metropolitan Railways: Rapid Transit in America. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2003.

Regional Transit Needs: Next Steps”. TTA Web Site. March 2007. July 2007 <http://www.ridetta.org/Regional_Rail/Overview/3-07LatestTransitNeeds.htm.>

Wood R. Urban Mass transit: the life story of a technology. Washington: Greenwood Press.2007. 23

William S. Powell and Jay Mazzocchi, eds. Encyclopedia of North Carolina (2006) 1320pp.

Weyrich  P & Lind W.  Does transit work? A conservative reappraisal. American Public Transport Association. 19 July 2009 <http://www.apta.com/research/info/online/weyrich2new.cfm>

William Murin Mass transit public planning: An incremental approach. University of Michigan: Health Lexiton Books. 1971