Gridlock

he hybrid gas/electric car is being touted now as the 21st Century car. However, the car IS the problem. It is the greatest killer of young people by accidents. 40,000 people die in ICV crashes in the US every year. At least another 20,000 pedestrians are killled by cars. ICVs are the sole cause of smog, acid rain and gridlock. They are the main cause of the national epidemic of obesity. We have stupidly created all these "labor-saving" devices, and then have to carve out another part of the day just for going to the gym. There would be no problem with obesity if we used our muscles every day to travel a few miles as part of our commute to and from work. There is no improvement to cars which makes the conventional automobile any part of the solution to travel around the 21st Century metroplex.

n any case, by 2010, all the smaller oil reserves will be gone (see ch. 9, "Hubbert's Peak") and we will be utterly dependent on the mad sheikhs and mullahs of the Middle East, who presently have 66.5% of all the oil reserves (Newsweek, November 19, 2001). That might be their ultimate weapon against the West. They could decide who gets oil and who doesn't. Thus, we must end our dependence on oil, and do it soon.

o we love our cars? If we believe the commercials, owning a luxury sedan brings almost mystical joy. And in the commercials, the car is speeding far beyond the speed limit, on a narrow and winding road through the mountains, with no other traffic. Have you ever driven on a road like that in your entire lifetime? Only once in my case, while driving an MGB through West Virginia. Even if you find such a road, you will be stuck behind a logging truck, or an Airstream trailer, with no place to pass.

o, the reality of cars is choking gridlock, sitting idling, breathing the fumes of the car in front of you. It is an amazing sight to see all 8 lanes (each way) of a Los Angeles freeway coming to a complete stop on a sunny Sunday afternoon, when it isn't even rush hour. Why? An accident? No. No reason. When the carrying capacity of a freeway is exceeded, it suddenly gels and comes to a complete stop. Which would you rather have? Easy travel around the Metroplex or the "thrill" of owning a new Lexus. I drive a 1983 Buick myself, one with measles of gray primer paint. And it is just as good a car as that Lexus or Mercedes. My car always starts, always runs, and has never stranded me anywhere. And I can break the speed limit if I have to.

o get rid of the cars, and all other Internal Combustion Vehicles (ICVs). Banish them from the Metroplex if you value your sanity. What replaces them is subways and freeway trains. A train is the only way of transporting an unlimited number of people from A to B at rush hour. Simply add more cars to the train.

reeway trains draw power from overhead lines, are rubber-tired, entirely robotic, and they break apart into individual cars which are also entirely robotic and spend most of the day and night going up and down one street. It is only at rush hour that they congregate on freeways into a train, either going to a suburb, or from a suburb. Where freeways cross, the trains will stop and people can transfer to a train going up or down one of the crossing freeways. As a train goes along a freeway, it sheds cars which take exits to streets, where it takes up its duty as a bus, going up and down that street until the next rush hour.

o will we have no mode of personal transportation? I have seen a tiny 1 person 3-wheel car which runs on batteries and also has a generator which one pumps like a bicycle. With advanced paper batteries, it should be light enough to go about 10 mph on a flat battery, and as fast as 55 mph on a full charge, with a range of about 50 miles, sufficient for commuters. This tiny vehicle would mix well with the mix of traffic I envision, and would contribute no pollution or noise, unlike the hybrid cars. So let us call this vehicle an "electric HPV" and not a "car," a term reserved for the conventional automobile.

ne other thing. People should be allowed to bring their bicycles right on the freeway train. The combination of bicycles and trains works well in good weather. They are even feasible in the rain, so long as there are no ICVs on the roads. They are not good in snow. I suggest skis. Either way, using muscle power every day to get to work and back is a good thing, not a bad thing. It is the only way we will ever shed our huge load of fat. We are a nation of fatties. We don't get enough exercise. Exercise should be part of the daily business of getting to work and coming home again, whether it is walking, roller-blading, bicycling, or skiing. And I reject taxis, even in Manhattan. Especially in Manhattan. There would be no room for bicycles (and it would be unsafe to ride them) if taxis are allowed.   But we could allow rickshaws in Manhattan.

o how do you get your shopping home without cars?   Home delivery!   This will be where electric vehicles will become useful and necessary.   Imagine a vehicle about 2 seats wide, no higher than a seated person plus half the diameter of the wheels, able to run on batteries (under the seat), or raise a pickup arm, and use the overhead powerlines used by freeway train/bus cars.   This will be the universal delivery van, as well as police and emergency services, and even as taxis in the outer boroughs, where traffic is less congested.

t is much easier to replace cars and buses than trucks. Our economy depends on trucks in numerous ways we hardly notice. The general rule, however, is that heavy traffic must go back to the rails. This will be supplemented with a modification of the freeway train. Where we now see 18 wheelers blasting down the freeway, we will then see a steady stream of freeway trains in the fast lanes. Some will carry passengers, but many will be carrying freight, and will have a driver. If an object needs to be moved that is so large and heavy that it must go on a tractor trailer, then the tractor shall be battery electric, with movement restricted to the wee hours of night, with that section of road and side streets temporally closed off (by setting the traffic lights to red). No diesel engines will be permitted in the Metroplex, because of the fine particulates (that ugly black smoke!) which they put into the air. Even freight trains must switch to overhead-wire electric locomotives before entering the metroplex.

ike passenger cars, freight freeway trains will be controlled robotically, by computer, when on the freeway train routes. The operator must get in the adjoining lane and request entrance to the train lane, just as the operator must request turns, and request exit from the train lane. Much of the time, the freeway freight trains will be creeping around side streets and truck routes on batteries alone. There is no reason for passenger freeway trains to have batteries. Made of high strength steel, they will be light in weight, low to the ground, and capable of 200 mph.

ou may notice that I have left a loophole for semi-trucks, provided that the tractor that pulls it is electrically powered. However, they must stay off the freeways, and take prescribed truck routes into and out of the metroplex. Garbage must be handled in a different way -- no more garbage trucks.   I have thought about this a lot.   If every household has a garbage disposal unit, that will take care of some of the trash.   If every block of flats or every aparment building has an incinerator for anything that will burn, that would handle more of it.   I think we must have pipelines that suck up the smoke, and take the pollutants, even the carbon dioxide out, to be taken to a landfill.   Finally, next to the incinerator should be devices for shredding milk bottles (which go in one sack) and pop bottles (which go into a different sack), a device for safely breaking glass (do we sort into clear and colored?) and a box for aluminum and other metals, as well as other repositories for paint and other toxic stuff.   When these repositories are full, call the garbage man in his electric car, and he will deliver the boxes and sacks to a recycling plant out of the metroplex.

irefighting and police work must also be handled in a different way. No more big firefighting trucks, and no more fast police cars.   The police must depend on catching culprits at checkpoints, which will catch people wanted by the police for questioning or arrest.   Fireman must rely on new fire codes which use the latest and best sprinkler systems.   These put out a fog of water just in the area of the fire.   Older buildings should be retrofitted by the government, at taxpayer expense.   This will save money in the long run, since there will be no more need for firefighters and their expensive equipment.   There might still be a need for fast respons to emergencies of all kinds.   Put the utility lines underground, and the fast response team could come by helicopter.

ome American cities already have the nucleus of an excellent subway system, only needing to be extended and improved. At the very least, they should be extended out to the airports and to distant suburbs. Freeway trains supplement the subways, going as far as the most distant bedroom communities along the freeways.

ow what about inter-city travel and commerce?   For passengers and fast packages or freight going from one coast to the other, there is a choice between a 15-20 hour trip in a freeway train, or a 6 hour trip on an airplane, or a one hour trip on the tube train.   See the chapter on "Tube Trains." Long distance express trains would have a bar-restroom car.  They would have to slow down to 100 mph when passing through a metroplex.   This means the individual cars must open up front and rear when they form up into trains.

liminate the frustrations of travel in NYC and Los Angeles, and we shall see an immediate improvement in mood.   The LA basin is beautiful when we can see it, and the mountains that rim the basin will be visible every day, instead of one day in a year, once ICVs have been banned from the basin.   And since most people will be riding bicycles or walking, we will all become fit as a nation and heart disease will disappear.   Also, we will be in compliance with the Kyoto accords on carbon dioxide production.

Copyright © Dr.H 2003

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