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How long will the Interstate system last?


Sunshine Hoosier

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Last week I visited my cousin. While I was there I rode my bike on a park on the edge of the town. It had a sign saying that there was formerly a buffalo trail that the native Americans followed and was later converted into a wagon trail used by the pioneers. Then it went on to mention how the trail was largely abandoned after an adjacent canal was built. Finally it spoke the downfall of the canal was the coming of the railroad. Well the railroad is gone, what is left resembles what I imagine a buffalo trail would look like. Then about quarter mile away lies the interstate. How long do you think the interstate will last before it starts to become obsolete? What type of transportation will make the interstate obsolete?

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What type of transportation will make the interstate obsolete?

Rocket buffalo.

6333741925_1a5a3bac10_z_zps50b55092.jpg

Edited by Imaginarynumber1
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Greetings, Sunshine Hoosier.

Imaginarynumber1's rocket 'bull' is cheerier than my report:

Privatization of roads is increasingly leading to upkeep problems

and more and more toll roads, which takes the free out of freeways.

NAU/NAFTA has proposed super highways/corridors,

which, for their planned oversight by profiteering foreigners,

amounts to an invasion.

Edited by aka CAT
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Imagine in the foreseeable future, flying cars are the main mode of transportation replacing the interstate system for good. I know US highways in parts of the country were replaced by freeways like US route 66 once called "the Main Street of America" nearly fell to a dismal state before nostalgic road lovers helped restore that highway. And the US lacks a high-speed rail system for non-drivers similar to Europe's, perhaps we have one someday.

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Until the next development in technology that supersedes the current system of private transportation (since I really don't think that electric or hybruid cars will ever be really suitable for long distance travel, particularly across deserts and things like that, or that people would really want to go so far in something so boring). Another interesting question is what if the U.S. was to split up into independent states or groupings of states, as some consider is not entirely a fantastical idea; who would be responsible for it then?

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Superways, railed tracks on highways, cars,trucks modified to follow the rails, however like monorail form, to go faster.

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I don't see the highway system changing all that much in the forseeable future... Perhaps the materials used in construction, and perhaps a few tweaks to the engineering, but in general it will be

pretty much as is...

What I would like to see is technology that permits tiny solar collectors to be mixed in with the building material, turning the roads/highways into an immense energy source...

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The US interstate system is a jewel. It should be expanded to more cities and emulated around the world.

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I don't see the highway system changing all that much in the forseeable future... Perhaps the materials used in construction, and perhaps a few tweaks to the engineering, but in general it will be

pretty much as is...

What I would like to see is technology that permits tiny solar collectors to be mixed in with the building material, turning the roads/highways into an immense energy source...

That'a an interesting idea Taun. Especially if the collectors could , somehow, power the vehicles moving on it!

I'm sure it could be done (someday).. if we want to.

* maybe put nano collectors in paint... for painted shoulders or something ?¿ Storage for dark hours would be a challenge?

Also the 20 feet of snow we get up here on average. Come to think of it, that's one of the Dummess ideas ever! (lol)

Edited by lightly
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Rocket buffalo.

*image removed*

I was wondering where this little gem was conceived :)

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Another guy on a buffalo?

I've watched a few episodes, e.g. the above, but not the full movie:

[media=]http://youtu.be/-yUsXE5octw

Edited by aka CAT
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What will replace the highway? We already have airplanes. Which millions use every day to transport long distances.

What I would like to see is a high speed rail line that goes from mega-urban center to mega-urban center.

I had to go to northern California a couple weeks ago, and the choices were driving (9 hours each way), taking the train (which only stops once in the town we wanted in the middle of the night, or flying (which was cost prohibitive for our destination). So we drove....

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What will replace the highway? We already have airplanes. Which millions use every day to transport long distances.

What I would like to see is a high speed rail line that goes from mega-urban center to mega-urban center.

..

but that would require serious federal investment, and that seems to be something that more and more people are dead set against. States and cities may be able to fund commuter networks (like Metrolink in Los Angeles and Caltrain in San francisco), but you'd need federal investment (and a federal government) for any kind of nationwide system.
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but that would require serious federal investment, and that seems to be something that more and more people are dead set against. States and cities may be able to fund commuter networks (like Metrolink in Los Angeles and Caltrain in San francisco), but you'd need federal investment (and a federal government) for any kind of nationwide system.

The trouble with mass transit is that in no time they are unionized and hold the public to ransom. Much better are highways, and vehicles that drive themselves safely at much higher speeds is probably how things will go. Either that or abandon physical travel for virtual travel and avoid the trip entirely.
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i suspect that will remain as far in the future as it always has done since the 1950s. And i very much suspect that personal transportation has come to represent Freedom so much that people would never accept Big Brother controlling their personal transportation modules.

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The trouble with mass transit is that in no time they are unionized and hold the public to ransom. Much better are highways, and vehicles that drive themselves safely at much higher speeds is probably how things will go. Either that or abandon physical travel for virtual travel and avoid the trip entirely.

Good point about the autodriving cars. That could very well be the way things go.

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Welcome to the 1950s futurist utopia, where everyone travels around in atomic powered robotic automatic cars!

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