The transport network spreads into all sections of the country, but the web of railways and highways is much more dense in the eastern half of the United States.
In the early 1990s the United States had about 6,24 million km of streets, roads, and highways. The National Interstate Highway System, 68,449 km in length in the early 1990s, connected the nation's principal cities and carried about one-fifth of all the road and street traffic.
More than 188 million motor vehicles were registered in the early 1990s. More than three-quarters were cars — one for every two persons in the country. About one-fifth of the vehicles were lorries. Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation), a federally subsidized concern, operates almost all the inter-city passenger trains in the United States; it carried more than 22 million passengers annually in the early 1990s.
General understanding:
1. What were the first routes in the US?
2. When was the first transcontinental railway constructed?
3. What was the length of railroads in 1917?
4. When did air transport start to gain importance?
5. How many motor vehicles were registered in US in early 90s?
6. What is Amtrak? How many passengers did it carry annually in the early 90s?