Industrial Revolution - Transportation Robert Fulton There were three main types of transportation that increased during the Industrial Revolution: waterways, roads, and railroads. Transportation was important because people were starting to live in the West. During this time period, transportation via water was the cheapest way to move heavy products (such as coal and iron).

It was the industrial areas of Lancashire and the Midlands which were least served by the river network. The answer was to bring the rivers to them with the construction of man-made water channels, known as canals. One of the first of these new canals was the Sankey Brook Navigation which opened in 1757, linking the coalfields of Lancashire to the city of Liverpool and the River Mersey.

The construction of more canals followed, particularly as the coal supplied through them undercut the opposition. The Bridgewater Canal, linking Runcorn, Leigh and Manchester was completed in 1761. This involved the construction of a viaduct over the River Irwell – the first of its kind. .

The age of the canal had truly arrived, and the closing decades of the 18th century saw the canal network expanding, so that cities, industrial areas and ports were linked through a system of waterways, serving the demands of the new industrialised nation.

By 1830 the country had over 4000 miles of navigable waterways, and this together with the road network, provided the backbone of the inland transportation system. However both were soon to have stiff competition with the coming of the railways.

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