Changing an Antiquated Transportation Paradigm

[npts2020]

Our transportation system in America is among the best ever constructed by humans but it is fast becoming antiquated for two reasons. The first, and most obvious reason is that the way vehicles are powered is not sustainable. The second reason is that our current system is trying to integrate 20th century technology into a 19th century or older infrastructure. The end result is that over 1/4 of our national energy production goes to transportation and 40,000 people die every year, with hundreds of thousands more injured. I am proposing to automate our road/rail system and power it with wind and solar energy. Such a system should be faster, safer, greener, more efficient, more convenient and cheaper than todays. All of the technology required to do this exists today so I am interested in peoples ideas about the specifics of making such a system reality. I have been writing extensively about this topic at npts2020.blogger.com.

[CaptainPanic]

I agree. That would be better. But in America, it also has to make profit, and that's why it's not going to happen soon. Welcome in the capitalist world.

 

In fact, no system will ever replace a current system. We'll either have a completely new system (in a way that roads and railroads are a different thing) or upgrade an old one (like highways and normal roads). Utopian plans which completely replace an old system but that will only be attractive once finished on a big scale don't stand a chance.

 

p.s. I cannot open your link.

[npts2020]

Firstly, about the link problem, the correct url is npts2020.blogspot.com, the address I gave is where you go to get the blogger url, sorry about that. Your first statement about making a profit, is true, but I disagree that it is the reason an automated system wont happen. The current system is becoming an albatross that nobody wants to pay for, whereas the system I envision will pay for itself over time and become self-supporting. As more and more citizens realize they cant afford to use the highways, clamoring for change will increase even more. Even now a lot of thoughtful people are calling for major changes in American infrastructure, although specifics are usually few and far between. The goal of my efforts is to provide a reasonable plan to bring our transportation system into the 21st century. There are many obstacles, to be sure, but I do not share your pessimism about upgrading. Americans are ready for change and I believe that if shown a practical way of proceeding and how it will make their lives better, most will support said change. It may well take support of 80% of Americans to get it done, since the federal government is the only entity that could possibly take on the task. However, if I didn't at least try I would feel like I was the same nattering nabob as many of those seen throughout the blogosphere, all criticism and no ideas of their own (do not think this refers to you). You could well be correct about this never happening, but I was aware when I first wrote publicly the scale and complexity of the whole thing. We live in a complex world that will require large scale solutions for many things, this is my attempt at contributing to those solutions, even if the Chinese or Japanese or somebody else does it first. The problem that is almost as large as actually building the system, is making people aware that there is a good solution to unnecessarily using oil to produce the 1/4 of our energy that is transportation and to killing over 40,000 people every year on the highways. Once that happens, the will to begin is there. Thank you for your comments.