Today we take quality personal transportation for granted. We expect to drive to distant cities in a few hours over smooth, all-weather roads. We expect to ride in air-conditioned or heated comfort in vehicles equipped with the latest audio equipment, GPS guidance systems, cellular telephones, and other modern conveniences. When we go to a store, we expect to find a wide range of foods and manufactured goods from distant U.S. cities and foreign countries.
The things that allow today's lifestyle are possible only because of the inter-twined system of all-weather city streets, county roads, state and interstate highways, railways, and airports that connect your front door to distant cities in other parts of the country and foreign lands. Automobiles, trucks, trains, and airplanes move the people and freight that makes our lifestyle possible, and without them life in a rural area like Titus County would be quite primitive. The modern transportation system that permits our mobile lifestyle hasn't always been available, and is the result of years of evolution from rivers and dirt trails to the quality transportation system that we enjoy today.
Towns and cities always develop and thrive in proximity to the major transportation routes of the day. The addition of a port, highway, or railroad can create a town where none existed, and at the least stabilizes its continued existence. The loss or moving of a major transportation route can kill a once-thriving town. A quality transportation system is the lifeblood of industries that pay salaries to sustain a town or region. Without good transportation, they cannot obtain raw materials or move finished goods to market.
Travel wasn't always as fast, safe, and comfortable as it is today. In the Transportation topic, we hope to provide insight into the vital roll that quality transportation has played in Titus County's history, which it continues to play today and will continue to play in the future.
We even cover some otherwise mundane things that people take for granted, like the railroad overpass on South Jefferson Street. No doubt, before South Jefferson was closed for construction in early 2007, you passed under the overpass without giving it a second thought. However, with South Jefferson closed, you appreciate the overpass much more. Imagine what traffic backups would be like if we still had to wait on every train that passes through, not to mention the number of people who would have been killed or maimed in motor vehicle-train collisions since the 1930s if it were not there. Luckily, we ran across news stories that describe the origin of this overpass and provide a vivid description of its importance in the time when it was built.
Click a blue link below or a blue number on the above menu to read about Titus County transporation subjects:
Page 6 - The Mt. Pleasant Regional Airport
