How were people's lives before and after?
Roads were poorly built and barely maintained. Goods were transported on rivers, which was slow and raised the cost. Travel was also very slow and therefor it took several days to get to different towns. But during the industrial revolution all the transportation techniques changed. Tolls got introduced to be able to maintain the roads, canals and bridges started getting built, leading to the invention of the railway, and many more big changes. The first railway was opened in 1825 in the north-east of England, called 'Locomotion No. 1'. Originally it was designed to carry coal from mines to ports, but they realized it could be used for passengers. This lead to more productions of locomotives. Of course this made travel between towns much faster and more accessible for different people.
What were the advantages and disadvantages of this change?
Before the Industrial Revolution, people in the poor classes never thought about transportation. They lived in their farm or house, and tried to get the best out of it. Sometimes they tried selling crops they made, but it never worked out that well since it had to get transported on rivers, which took very long. But once roads, canals, bridges and all those transportation techniques were built, a lot changed. When things got sold, they would get transported faster, and people started thinking outside of what they had. They thought about travelling a little further to get better work, and then coming back home in the evening. So all of this was much more efficient and changed people's ways of thinking completely. Of course there were some downsides to this change. Some people didn't want to use the roads since tolls got introduced, others didn't like the idea of change and so they went completely against it. There were also a lot of disadvantages for the environment. Steamboats and railways caused a lot of pollution back then. But we end up in a world that has completely change since then anyway.
How did the new transportation techniques change Britain?
The Industrial Revolution has changed the way of working, treating people, educating people and a lot more. But transportation has had a big part in all of this. Since roads, canals and bridges were built, there were already faster and different ways of travelling throughout Britain. But once railways and steamboats were built, even more changed. People could travel to different cities in 18 hours instead of 2 days, more work was available for individuals and goods got transported much quicker.