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Wed 16 Jun, 2004 10:31 am
heres an idea for you to try on. this vehicle would be half the width of a normal lane and the passengers would sit behind one another, instead of side by side. the vehicle would drive down the road like a normal vehicle but would have the ability to move over to the right side of the road, grab an i-beam like rail, and ride it up over the stoplights like a monorail. it would then come back down and merge with traffic. only the busiest intersections would be adapted for this. we could also possibly use tunnels. the advantage to this is that if vehicles get through the intersections faster, then there are less cars on the road. then there are no need for additional lanes to be constructed. in urban areas, we could take the two middle lanes or go along the side and put 4 lanes in the space of 2. we could also go up multiple levels. in the mornings, all the lanes could be dedicated to going into the city center, and in the evenings all the lanes could be dedicated to going out from the city center. we could even design it to drive up into a mass transportation vehicle such as a bus or train, and drive back off at their stop. i believe it would even be possible to simulate a rail with asphalt, making it inexpensive to lay new lanes along the interstates or highways. if the vehicle was built like a race car with a roll cage, and all the latest safety features, then it should be a safe vehicle. we should take into account ice buildup, and provide a screen to catch any ice falling or vehicles that might malfunction. maybe, we could just use convection from deeply layed tubes to run through the overhead rails.
we all know that we can't even afford to maintain the roads that we already have. it just doesn't make sense to keep building more and more roads. we also know that the intersections are where the bottlenecks are, so why not bypass them. this idea has already been given to the transportation department, and the transportation committees. is it great or what? a roller coaster ride every day! does anyone have any better ideas?
I don't think that idea is very practical.
First, we would have to design the cars and prove that the systems inside are completely safe. It would take years to figure out how to get a car moving 45mph to attach itself to a static beam and then catapult itself up and over an intersection. But it wouldn't really matter because I seriously doubt that any passenger would pass up the opportunity of sitting beside the other occupants.
Second, asphalt is much cheaper than steel and it's supports. It just doesn't make sense to invest more money into building a structure that will end up saving less money than it costs. Not only that, but your plan still uses the road to transport passengers in one direction.
Third, having a car that is longer than it is wide will severely limit the range of the car. It won't be able to handle bumpy roads and will be more likely to roll not only in accidents with other cars but just going around corners.
Even one of those examples would cause people to turn down this idea, and I've given you many more than that.
good points
you bring up some interesting points. i'm not convinced people would go for it either, but it is something to think about. let me go ahead and address your concerns, just for the heck of it. the catapult thing you mentioned would be no problem. when the vehicle is getting ready to grab onto the rail, concrete concave paths would take it exactly on to the rail. the rail would incline at a 30 to 45 degree angle. there would not be any catapulting. the vehicles structure would be standardized, but they could all have different exterior designs. next, i'm sure the cost of steel is expensive, but consider this. roads continually have to be maintained even after the cost of construction, and no more weight than these overpasses would have to support, you would think that they would last 100 years with minimal maintenance. there may be something cheaper than steel that might work just as well, and don't forget that tunnels could be used. although i'm not sure people would feel comfortable with tunnels. next, you suggested that i implied it would just go one direction. i should explain this better. i meant in the urban areas it would go into the citys center in the mornings, and in the evenings all the lanes would be going outbound. all other times it could be divided in both directions. some cities already do this with a machine that automatically moves a concrete barrier to change directions for that lane. if we can put a man on the moon, then there is no doubt that this could easily be engineered in a years time. food for thought, volvo i believe has already made a concept car half the width of normal vehicles, and i believe that people sit behind each other. their logic i think is to just make cars narrow, so we can double the amount of lanes. they may be right and this may be all that is necessary. i just don't like sitting at stoplights.
Volvo may have a good idea here, if they can overcome the lateral stability issue. Maybe three cars could occupy the space taken by three normal width cars. Still, it would be a long and painful transition while all the old, fat cars wore out. In any case, doesn't it seem that traffic expands to fill the available highway space?
Stoplights, though. I think they are here to stay. Now, my town has transmitters on the bluffs that can change the lights, I believe for emergency vehicles. Could be that the idea could be taken a bit further to get the maximum number of cars through the intersection in the least amount of time.
Welcome to able2know Wakeup. The concept you are talking about is known as personal rapid transit and has been around as an idea for a long time. It is not likely to be implemented any time soon, although there are some small scale trials happening. Microcars running on specially designated lanes, like the Volvo concept you mentioned are more likely to be used. That Volvo was called the Mobility 2010/Tandem and was just a concept car. It did run, but only for show.
Roger, there are no lateral stability problems.... as long as you build the things right.
In Cali Colombia there is already an efficient system in place: most people just run the red light if nothing is coming that is likely to hit them. Also no one wastes time stopping at stop signs unless something is barreling through the lane with the right of way. While these practises result in a lot of accidents they really cut down on traffic jams!
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