please can anyone help

[ilovemarkb]

please can anyone help with my sons homework (just a few pointers)
Why did peoplle transport good via canal rather than road in the second half of the 18th century and why were canals built in some area's rather than other. adam smith and thomas telford names come up when we try to find the answers! thanks julie

[jackthehat]

There were no real 'roads' until the Turnpike Acts allowed private companies to build them - they were rutted dirt tracks, in the main.

Canals were a more direct route between towns, cities.

Geographical topography accounted for the decision to build canals, as did centres of industry, towns to buy/sell goods and materials..........proximity to docks, too.

[dotty.]

http://www.theanswerb.../Question1000547.html

[ilovemarkb]

thanks guys xx

[Clanad]

Here in the U.S., the Erie Canal, among others was built because so much more freight could be transported at one time than by wagon. A team of 4 horses could pull tons in a canal boat versus a ton or less in a freight wagon...

[starone]

Here in Bristol we have the Feeder Canal which cuts off a large loop of the river Avon where it would have been difficult for barges to go. Where it finishes and the River Avon starts again there used to be a very large factory where the barges used to deliver the components that the factory used. All gone now! But the canal is still there for pleasure boats.

[pretty_snowdrop]

Canals are built near rivers and towns/cities are usually situated nearby. The boat would navigate rivers where possible, and where it was not possible ( because of weirs or because they needed a more direct route) they would build canals. A good example of this is the Leeds to Liverpool canal which links together many towns and cities.

[woofgang]

fragile goods were better transported by water than on bumpy carts on bumpy roads...eg china from the potteries, and glass from bristol...there was the added advantage in wet areas (midlands) that digging the canal drained wet land and made it easier to cultivate AND then provided cheap transport for the crops.

[jno]

roads were terrible, as jth says, and getting goods around was a slow business. Canals made it much easier. Then railways were invented and made it easier still. And now we're back to roads again.

[ilovemarkb]

you lot are very clever thankyou very much!!! julie x