Yes, it was (Monrail!, monorail!, monrail!)
Posted on 03/01/2006 10:14:13 AM PST by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
Researchers at Purdue University are mapping a plan for the future of the nation's interstate highways. They provided details Tuesday of a vision of what a road trip might look like 40 years from now.
Researchers say the plan would take drivers off the roads and put them onto the rails. High-speed passenger trains would whisk people along the interstate quicker than the cars and trucks rolling alongside. A trip from Indianapolis to Chicago could take less than an hour.
"If you chose to travel by high-speed rail rather than by highway, that four-hour trip would take you approximately 50 minutes," said Dr. Bonnie Savage, Purdue University.
Savage spent three years researching congestion on interstate highways. She says within ten years, more than half of an average motorist's time will be spent sitting still in traffic jams. Dr. Savage says traffic congestion costs the country about $78 billion a year in lost productivity, wasted fuel and other expenses.
The idea for a new national transportation network is based on an old one. Planners invented the current interstate highway system exactly 50 years ago. The new proposal upgrades the original and would serve the region's needs for the next 40 years.
The new plan calls for putting cars and trucks in separate lanes on rural highways like parts of I-65. Truckers would use their own, exclusive lanes, side-by-side in the country and on elevated highways in the city.
"Of major concern to us in the state of Indiana is increased freight movements. We are in the center of the United States. We're 24 hours away by truck from 80 percent of the US population that consumes goods and services," said Tom Sharp, INDOT commissioner.
Planners say the system would pay for itself by getting rid of a pattern of transportation waste. They suggest corporate travelers, as well as ordinary drivers, can save fuel, time and resources. Drivers would utilize wider lanes, and find less congested traffic.
State officials expect the plan will be attractive enough to draw federal dollars to refurbish the interstate system.
"This isn't something where we say, 'This would be nice if it was a shorter trip.' This impacts us. This impacts our lifestyle. This impacts our economics. We are truly set on the verge of needing this. We are lucky to have the opportunity to develop something like this in the time frame where it's needed," Savage said.
If plan is going to succeed, drivers will have to use it. No one knows how enthusiastic people will be about giving up their wheels and letting someone else do the driving for them. But according to a WISHTV.COM epoll Tuesday, some 71 percent of respondents say they´d absolutely use it.
Funny you said that. It was a family tradition for us to go to Chicago at Christmas time to window shop and eat at the Berghoff. Now that Marshall Fields and the Berghoff are gone I have know reason to go. I like Indy better anyway...
Yes, it was (Monrail!, monorail!, monrail!)
I thought the same thing (Chunnel concept), except that for the Indy-Chicago trip, somehow the load/unload time will have to be quick enough to justify the time.
Of course it will take a lot more energy to transport a car+passengers than it would to just transport the passengers without the car. In which case the cost of a ticket may be high.
Takes about forty minutes for the Chunnel thing, that for a trip of under 20 miles. And you get off in the country, not in a large urban area.
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