Nation On The Move

Overview

America is a nation of vast distances and dense urban clusters, woven together by 200,000 miles of railroads, 5,000 airports, and 4 million miles of roads. These massive, complex transportation systems combine to make Americans the most mobile people on earth. In this episode, host Yul Kwon journeys across the continent by air, road and rail. He ventures behind the scenes with the workers who get us where we need to go; at the Federal Aviation Administration command center, he listens in on a call with NASA, the secret service, the military, and every major airline to learn how our national flight plan works today. He meets innovators creating ways to propel us farther and faster in years to come; in Las Vegas, he heads out into the wild night to see how transportation analysts are keeping traffic at bay by revolutionizing the use of one basic tool: the traffic light. And he uncovers the minor miracles and uphill battles involved in moving over 300 million Americans every day on infrastructure built in the 19th and 20th centuries.