Quote:
Originally Posted by rattlsnak
FDX just announced on Friday a huge billion dollar hub expansion project to try to keep up with the unprecedented eCommerce demand/ boom.
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Bulk and mass transportation is still the most efficient(cheapest) method to move products and people long distances.
Like carotid arteries on a flat map except with multiple overlapping hearts and multiple limbs extending into the distal .
Every day the circulation cycles repeat again.
The problem is that personal auto traffic clogs the majority of those routes.
This blocks everything equally: urgent and non urgent alike.
It also makes bicycle and pedestrian traffic much more hazardous when they are mixed together with semis and limits all other commuting options.
Many of the originating sources are ports, airports, and highways importing goods.
That could all change in the future if the sources of production relocate...but would our current infrastructure let this happen?
Would it be flexible enough to reconfigure easily?
What about new high-speed transportation means such as pneumatic tubes and the like?
Trains work wonderfully when they are dependable and safe and available but require a great time and great expense to plan-ahead for.
The best time to build new train routes is during the good economic times...when nobody cares...
All these competing systems run on one plane but we should be thinking of new ways to separate them all.
Run trains down the center of highways. Run subways underground. Covered raised throughways for bicyclists. Auto and pedestrian on ground level.
Kumbaya.