The Pan American Road - Research Paper Example

By this time, after the industrial revolution, it had become clear that the two American continents not only needed to be connected but that they also needed to be have a good network of roads which would connect economically strategic points all over the two continents. The idea was however for development of a single route rather than a network of roads. It was however only until On 29 July 1937 that the United States and eleven countries from South American country managed to sign a convention that would help in each of the countries doing their part in the completion of the highway.

By 1950, Mexico finished its portion of the highway and became the first state from the South American continent to finish its portion of the Pan American Road. The rest of he states also cleared their portions later and the highway was completely. However, the highway lacks uniformity because there were no clear standards to help in making sure that the road will have the same standards. Roads Previously In Place along the Current Pan Am Route While the Pan American Highway was an idea on its own, most of the roads which today constitute the Pan American Highway were already there and existed way before the countries agreed to build the Pan American Highway. . As the Pan American Highway joins Canada, it becomes highway 97 which again becomes US highway 97 as it joins the main continental USA.

The Pan American Highway can therefore be seen as having come to replace already existing states. The idea of the Pan American Highway therefore only came to reinforce an already existing idea as some of these roads were already in existence. However, the ideas were supposed to help in standardizing roads across two the continents. Whether this was an achievement that has been a source of discussion with some arguing that the idea of a Pan American Highway has failed drastically. How it was developed (construction efforts throughout the different countries, costs, workers) Each state was required to finance its construction of its portion of the Pan American Road.

However, some states got partial financing from other states within the Pan American association. For instance, Panama got partial financing of the construction of the Pan American Road from United States of America. In Panama, for instance the cost of construction amounted to twenty million, five of which was provided by the United States of America. However, the cost of construction for the highway cannot be clearly established due to the fact that some of these roads already existed even before the official Pan American Road.

In every country, the construction was done mainly by the local population from which labour resources were gained. However, those countries which did not have the right technology had to depend on those which had more advanced technology in order to gain this technology needed for the same. What It Was Made Of As already discussed, there were no specific standards which were supposed to be looked at in order to make sure that