Question

what point is the author trying to make by comparing the travel times of the first transcontinental railroad and the first transcontinental flight?

Answer 1

Traveling by plane was supposed to be a faster option for going from coast to coast that train but it wasn’t

Hope it helps

Answer 2

The author starts by stating that both developments were crucial for the development of the country at the time each was introduced. The Transcontinental was finished in 1869 and the first non-stop transcontinental flight was completed in 1929.

Afterward, he highlights the fact of the difference in the amount of time it took to achieve the transcontinental crossing between both means of transportation and how the introduction of the flight drastically changed the way people moved from one place another.