Here is Time Magazine's idea of mass transit, etc. meets the interstate highway system. Ock and Lake, take a deep breath and enjoy! ;D #4 on their top 10 ideas changing the world!QuoteTime Magazine
Thursday, Mar. 12, 2009
Reinstating the Interstate
By Richard Lacayo
Maybe the most unlikely thing that Barack Obama has accomplished in the past few months is that he's made infra-structure sexy. O.K., not sexy, but at least a hot topic. Rebuilding scuffed and threadbare roads and bridges all around the U.S. is an Obama priority. The recent stimulus package contained $8 billion to develop new intercity high-speed rail lines.
But the biggest single chunk of infra-structure in the U.S. is the interstate highway system, more than 47,000 miles (76,000 km) of multilane roadways connecting every major American city. And people who spend time envisioning improved systems for energy and transit have ideas for the interstates that go far beyond fresh asphalt and new guard-rails. They've been talking up ways in which the big roads could become the backbone of a larger network of railways and broadband cables and even a new, more efficient electrical power grid.
The construction of the interstate highway system, which Congress authorized in 1956, was one of the great can-do enterprises of the post-World War II era, the largest public-works project in history. But now the interstates look like a vast monument to the law of unintended consequences. They turned out to be the great enabler of America's car culture and the fossil-fuel consumption that goes with it. And by making it possible to live far from where you work, they were the key element in the phenomenon of suburban sprawl.
So can the big roads be remade into something better than 47,000 miles of temptation? This is where the new thinking about a highway/light-rail/power-grid nexus comes in. The first great advantage of the interstates is that they represent an established right of way. The government owns the road-beds and adjacent land, so rail and power lines can be laid down without the need to purchase more land. "Right of way is a precious resource," says Representative Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who has become a point person in Congress on infrastructure issues. "It's been developed over centuries at great cost. It's strategically located and immediately available."
And it's already being put to use in some places. In the new expansion of the Portland Light Rail system in Oregon, the trains run alongside the road. And in Portland some stretches of that road are also being equipped with solar panels to power the roadside lights. But maybe the most audacious idea comes from the Al Gore-affiliated Repower America, a clean-energy advocacy group. Highways could be one of the routes for the new, more efficient electrical power grid that Repower advocates. And that grid would be available for battery-powered and hybrid vehicles to draw from and even sell surplus power back to. Envision a system in which you drive to a light-rail station along the interstate, plug into a smart grid at the parking lot and ride the train to work while your car recharges.
But making these ideas work will require an unusual degree of coordination among states, regions and regulatory bodies. "There's one group of people looking at highways," says Shelley Poticha, president of Reconnecting America, a mass-transit advocacy group. "There's another looking at passenger rail and a different group looking at freight." She thinks the solution is a bipartisan federal commission "like the commission that oversaw military-base closings, so that we can have a strategy for the highways." It was, after all, one great federal effort that built the interstates. Maybe it can be another one that rebuilds them.
Link at: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884764,00.html
Light rail along Portland, Oregon, interstate: (http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2009/0903/iinterstate_0323.jpg)
QuoteThe construction of the interstate highway system, which Congress authorized in 1956, was one of the great can-do enterprises of the post-World War II era, the largest public-works project in history. But now the interstates look like a vast monument to the law of unintended consequences. They turned out to be the great enabler of America's car culture and the fossil-fuel consumption that goes with it. And by making it possible to live far from where you work, they were the key element in the phenomenon of suburban sprawl.
This is a rather pessimistic view of the Interstate system. It benefits have far outweighed its costs. The system enables the quick and efficient distribution of goods and services. Products can now be produced and consumed far from production centers creating jobs and prosperity in areas other than traditional ports and commerce centers. There is no doubt that there were unintended consequences as there are with virtually every human endeavor. We should work on correcting them. I like the idea of putting those already purchased right of ways to work as mass transit, power generation, and conduit for other infrastructure.
Bridgetroll, there has always been a huge conflict of interest, as the article indicates, between highways and passenger rail. And the fact is that our urban planning has been hugely impacted by this conflict of interest. Just look at the fastly different outcomes in Europe where dense construction and energy saving practices were part of their urban planning.
The fact that we are building more townhomes and high density construction now, makes it possible for us too to implement light rail and other passenger rail in the US. THAT is what the writer means by the unintended consequences of the very successful Highway public works project of the 50s. We are going to have to do the same for rail and other energy saving transportation methods if we are serious about becoming Oil/fossil fuel Independent. From the article:
QuoteBut making these ideas work will require an unusual degree of coordination among states, regions and regulatory bodies. "There's one group of people looking at highways," says Shelley Poticha, president of Reconnecting America, a mass-transit advocacy group.
"There's another looking at passenger rail and a different group looking at freight."
She thinks the solution is a bipartisan federal commission "like the commission that oversaw military-base closings, so that we can have a strategy for the highways." It was, after all, one great federal effort that built the interstates. Maybe it can be another one that rebuilds them.
And something else to keep in mind to curb the growth of road construction in favor of rail:
QuoteThe Federal Highway Administration reported that motorists drove 108 billion fewer miles last year, a 3.6 percent drop from 2007 levels. While significant, this reduction - which has an impact on gasoline tax revenues - is far less severe than the reduction in travel experienced by toll roads across the country. The continued drop in toll road use on well regarded facilities like Orange County, California's 91 Express Lanes brings into question the long-term sustainability of tolling as a form of revenue collection compared to the more modern gasoline excise tax.
http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/headlines/404
The article in TIME links rail issues to highway right of ways, and their potential for major change. Thanks for posting.
A couple of things amaze me with this article.
1. Don't these boys and girls know that the interstate highway system was built ALONGSIDE the main trunk line railroads of America in the first place? Give or take a few miles, just look to the left or right on your favorite "FREE"way and you'll find a private railroad paying for your ride.
2. Where in the hell did this magazine find such a sunny day in Portland? Wow what a photo! During the 5 years I lived in BORING (Just uphill from Portland), the sunny morning fell on a leap year and most of us slept in and missed it.
OCKLAWAHA
Here is a thought: What if they started running rail transit around our beltways. Instead of a linear line, a circular line! I wonder if such a loop exist anywhere in the world? Lake, Ock - any examples? If a loop is good for cars, why not rail? We could have two trains, running in opposite directions, rolling all day and night long. Just like my little HO train set oval when I was a kid. :D So simple and, maybe, so elegant too.