Why was the Transcontinental Railroad built? (Select all that apply.)

A) to make travel across the nation easier

B) to improve banking across the United States

C) to end the process of Reconstruction in the South

D) to connect trade routes between the east and west coasts

E) to aid the process of westward expansion

A) D) & E) The transcontinental railroad needs more historical credit

The correct answers are A, D and E. The Transcontinental Railroad was built to make travel across the nation easier, to connect trade routes between the east and west coasts, and to aid the process of westward expansion.

Explanation:

The First Transcontinental Railroad is the popular name for the United States Railroad (now known as the "Pacific Railroad") completed in 1869 between Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska and Alameda, California. This railroad connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail for the first time in history. Opened to traffic on May 10, 1869, with the Golden Spike in Promontory, Utah, the route established a mechanized transcontinental transportation network that revolutionized the population and economy of the American West.

It was the culmination of a long decades movement for the construction of such a line and was a crowning achievement of Abraham Lincoln's presidency, although completed four years later of his death. Construction of the railroad required enormous engineering and work feats in the passage of plains and high mountains by the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad, which built the western and eastern line, respectively.