Wake the path of least resistance - Why we must not allow provincial regulations to become a boulder in the rushing stream of trade

摘要

I would like to tell you a tale of two cities. The tale is more than 150 years old but it contains an important lesson about how attitude and strategy towards transportation can either help or hinder our economy today. In the mid-1800s, the new railway technology was poised to provide a major east-west link across the continent, opening up the west for unprecedented development and trade. The railways wanted the main junction to pass through St. Louis, which at the time was the dominant city in the Midwest and the fourth largest in the US.