Comments on: When WILL We Optimize Road Traffic? http://themoderatevoice.com/22913/when-will-we-optimize-road-traffic/ An Internet hub for moderates, centrists, and independents, with domestic and international news, analysis, original reporting, and popular features from the left, center, and right Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:26:00 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: joshmchugh http://themoderatevoice.com/22913/when-will-we-optimize-road-traffic/comment-page-1/#comment-154294 joshmchugh Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:20:06 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/futuristics/22913/when-will-we-optimize-road-traffic/#comment-154294 Right on - thanks for taking the time to parse my story. I've long been obsessed with traffic optimization, much to the chagrin of my wife, and the author, Tom Vanderbilt is, thankfully, even more obsessed. His book helped me get over my hangups about being a late merger. Read it and never again worry about being "that driver" who everybody curses and honks at - you're not taking advantage of good people's morality - you're optimizing! Right on – thanks for taking the time to parse my story. I've long been obsessed with traffic optimization, much to the chagrin of my wife, and the author, Tom Vanderbilt is, thankfully, even more obsessed. His book helped me get over my hangups about being a late merger. Read it and never again worry about being “that driver” who everybody curses and honks at – you're not taking advantage of good people's morality – you're optimizing!

]]> By: DLS http://themoderatevoice.com/22913/when-will-we-optimize-road-traffic/comment-page-1/#comment-154118 DLS Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:51:58 +0000 http://themoderatevoice.com/futuristics/22913/when-will-we-optimize-road-traffic/#comment-154118 Intelligent Highway Systems might be fought by many of President Obama's fellow Dems who want the money spent on often-non-"solutions" like public transit instead. The same is true for the need not only to reconstruct some roads and bridges but to add capacity and new roads where they long have been needed (I can name several examples from my experiences living in nine states and traveling through the rest); we can't expect to stand still with capacity and rely on automated traffic flow at a "magic" optimal "VPH" level around 50 mph or a higher level if we can run automated tailgating platoons or traffic streams at higher speeds.<br><br>If we someday went to electric vehicles, I could see independent running in metro areas or in rural areas, but for inter-city travel, use some of the nation's rail network (or build new routes) as a system of high-speed routes. Get onto an automated system, put up the pantograph, and go 250 mph between nodes in the network. That would actually constitute an improvement over a set of world-class high-speed rail (a thing I like) in the regional environments where this makes sense, with "loss-leader" (uneconomical and subsidized) connector lines to permit people to go between the regional high-speed networks. People would prefer shooting across the land in their own vehicles -- autonomy (ingress and egress) and privacy being highly valued and rightly so. Intelligent Highway Systems might be fought by many of President Obama's fellow Dems who want the money spent on often-non-”solutions” like public transit instead. The same is true for the need not only to reconstruct some roads and bridges but to add capacity and new roads where they long have been needed (I can name several examples from my experiences living in nine states and traveling through the rest); we can't expect to stand still with capacity and rely on automated traffic flow at a “magic” optimal “VPH” level around 50 mph or a higher level if we can run automated tailgating platoons or traffic streams at higher speeds.

If we someday went to electric vehicles, I could see independent running in metro areas or in rural areas, but for inter-city travel, use some of the nation's rail network (or build new routes) as a system of high-speed routes. Get onto an automated system, put up the pantograph, and go 250 mph between nodes in the network. That would actually constitute an improvement over a set of world-class high-speed rail (a thing I like) in the regional environments where this makes sense, with “loss-leader” (uneconomical and subsidized) connector lines to permit people to go between the regional high-speed networks. People would prefer shooting across the land in their own vehicles — autonomy (ingress and egress) and privacy being highly valued and rightly so.

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