THE EARLY POST WAR

YEARS
By-ASAD ANSARI,
BHAVYA BELANI,
ZIYAN [10 D]
 Roadways
 The construction and expansion of road networks were a
fundamental aspect of post-war reconstruction and economic
growth. Improved roadways facilitated the movement of people
and goods, connecting urban and rural areas, and enhancing
accessibility. The development of the interstate highway system in
the United States, for example, had a profound impact on trade,
tourism, and the growth of suburbs. The automobile industry
thrived, and road transport became an essential part of the
economic landscape.
 Many State DOTs have developed historic bridge programs. These
programs aim to preserve the historic and cultural value of long-
standing bridges where possible and expedite the consideration of
historic bridges in project development and environmental review.
For example, Indiana's Historic Bridge Program helps planners
prioritize a list of bridges for preservation, while providing bridge
owners incentives for this preservation
 Dramatically increased auto and truck use demanded an improved
transportation system, and bridges were part of the solution. Where
bridges had previously been designed as engineering and
architectural statements, bridges of the 1950s and 60s existed for a
purely functional role of serving the new highways. Replicated pier design accelerated construction of bridges for the new
Interstate system.
 Look-alike, cookie-cutter bridges may be little
admired today, but in postwar America they
signaled the arrival of a new, fast-moving world of
limited-access highways and modern technology.
 Dramatically increased auto and truck use
demanded an improved transportation system, and
bridges were part of the solution. Where bridges
had previously been designed as engineering and
architectural statements, bridges of the 1950s and
60s existed for a purely functional role of serving
the new highways.
 At the same time that simplicity flourished,
increasingly complex interchanges obliged
engineers to design bridges that followed the
curves, twists, and elevations of on- and off-ramps
in cloverleafs. Introduced in the 1950s, room-sized
computers handled the calculations of these new
“flyover” bridges, while advances in steel welding
allowed beam shapes to follow the engineers’
computer-calculated designs. The computer also Uninterrupted travel through the Rocky Mountains on Colorado’s
freed engineers from time-consuming design Interstate 70
calculations to work on other issues.
 After World War II, the Interstate Highway
program and new technologies significantly
accelerated the use of national standards that had
guided engineers since the 1910s. In the 1950s
and 60s the Bureau of Public Roads issued
standard bridge plans that promoted new materials
and designs while dropping obsolete types. The
American Association of State Highway Officials
(AASHO, later the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials, or
AASHTO) also provided specifications and
guidelines for State Departments of
Transportation in the postwar era and to the
present.
 A postwar preference for design austerity,
combined with accelerated construction
schedules, had also reduced concerns with
aesthetics in bridges. The grand, Neoclassical
style bridges of the 1920s and 1930s that served
as urban gateways or memorials to civic leaders Functional bridges constructed along Texas Interstate 10 were an integral
part of this new limited access highway.
gave way to strictly functional bridges constructed
as efficiently and economically as possible.
 Railways
 Many railroads were in financial trouble on the eve of World
War II. A surge in war-related traffic brought a temporary
reprieve, but by 1949, rail traffic had fallen 28% from its 1944
level. Railroads were losing huge amounts of money on
passenger operations, but government regulators often refused
to allow railroads to discontinue money-losing passenger routes.
 1945-1970: Big Investments Post WWII: Railroads enter the
post-war era with a new sense of optimism, leading them to
invest billions of dollars in new locomotives, freight equipment,
and passenger trains. This investment will see the last steam
locomotive retirement by the late 1950s in favor of diesel
engines. Despite this modernization, the decline in rail market
share that began before the war resumes.
 Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the rapid growth of truck and
barge competition (aided by tens of billions of dollars in federal
funding for construction of the interstate highway and inland
waterway systems) and huge ongoing losses in passenger
operations led to more railroad bankruptcies service
abandonments and deferred maintenance.
 By the 1970s, excessive regulations, intense competition from trucks and
barges, and changing shipping patterns drove railroads to the brink of ruin:
 The Rail Passenger Service Act of 1970 created Amtrak and relieved
freight railroads of most of the huge losses (then around $200 million per
year, or around $850 million in today’s dollars) incurred in passenger
service, but conditions continued to deteriorate on the freight side.
 During the 1970s, most major railroads in the Northeast and several major
Midwestern railroads went bankrupt. Bankrupt railroads accounted for
more than 21% of the nation’s rail mileage.
 1945-1953: The Last Railroad President: President Harry S Truman is the
last “Railroad President.” His successors will rely primarily on planes and
automobiles, using trains largely for campaign trips.
 1955: Intermodal Becomes Separate Category: Intermodal freight — the
movement of containers and highway trailers by rail — is reported as a
separate category of freight for the first time.
 1961: Railroad Embrace Technology: Missouri Pacific acquires the rail
industry’s first solid-state computer, an IBM 7070. Railroads will become
one of the earliest major users of computer technology.
 1980: Staggers Act Revives Rail: Congress passes the Staggers Rail Act,
reducing the Interstate Commerce Commission’s regulatory authority over
railroads and sparking competition that stimulates technological advances
and a restructuring of the industry, including creating hundreds of new
shortline and regional railroads using rail lines spun off from larger
railroads.
 Airways
 Russia would not allow nations occupied at end of war to determine their
own form of government
 East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Rumania,
Yugoslavia, Albania, North Korea, Northern China
 Chinese civil war, French Indochina
 U.S. military aid to Turkey, Greece
 Marshall Plan provides economic aid to rebuild Europe
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization established, Apr 1949
 Nemesis, Warsaw Pact, May 1955
• Force Reduction
– The end of World War II began a new age for the United States and the military
– Army reduced from 8M to 2M
– Navy from 4M to 1.6M
– Air Force from 2.3M to 300K, 72K to 10K
– About 2M by 1950
– National Security Act of 1947
• Department of Defense
• Civilian service secretaries, Chief of Staff
• Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Separate Air Force
• Reorganization
– Strategic Air Command
• Nuclear deterrence
• Obsolete aircraft and few atomic bombs
• B-29, B-50, B-36
– 10,000 lbs, 10,000 miles
 Lesson learned –
• Importance of Airpower
– Transport Aircraft
• More experience because of Berlin airlift in year than in 10 years
• C-74, 24 tons, 14 total
• Research Centers
– Speed of sound; vibrations, control reversal, aircraft destruction
– Laboratory experiments then test aircraft
• Research Aircraft
– X-1, 670 mph, 42,000 ft, increased until 1956
air launched from B-29 at 23,000 ft
700, 43,000 ft (Oct 1947)
– X-2, 2,094 mph, but disintegrated in flight
– X-3, inadequate engine power
– X-5, variable angle wings
 Waterways –
 After World War II, waterways (like rivers and ports) became incredibly important for moving things
around, both in the world and in India.
• In the world, waterways were crucial for helping countries rebuild and trade with each other after the war.
The United States had a plan called the Marshall Plan, and waterways were a big part of making it work.
They also started using containers to make it easier to move things on ships.
• In India, the rivers and deltas were used to transport goods within the country. They worked on making
these water routes better. Indian ports in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata got bigger and more
modern to handle more trade.
THANK YOU