The Problem
It is estimated that by 2040 there will be 50 million inhabitants in Texas, this is the legal population figures only. Though most of that increase will be in metropolitan areas like Houston, Dallas, and Austin, it will be felt everywhere. Texas highways are in major disrepair and many are not wide enough for the present traffic. No matter how you try to alleviate this problem, the fact is, modern highways are not going to be able to sustain the traffic that is coming.
A lot of areas around the state already experience major slow-downs, and it was recently estimated that Texans waste a total of 4 million hours/year on I-45 North in Houston. To add just two more lanes per side to handle the present volume will take twenty years*, by then there will be 3 times as much traffic on that highway. Downtown Houston will not be able to build a highway wide enough to handle any where near that increase, unless of course, they start knocking buildings down. The mass transit options of "Snail Rail" and Metro buses will never be able, or utilized enough, to really deal with the numbers of people that have to be moved every day. There is no plan on the horizon for this problem, the City is just trying to sustain what it has today.
There's an old commercial where a mechanic says to a lady, "You can pay me now, or you can pay me later", insinuating that "later" was a lot more expensive. Texas' transportation problem is a lot like that; We can spend a big amount now for a better system, or, we can spend a big amount now to patch up and temporarily fix, then spend a bigger amount (inflation happens) for the better system we needed in the first place.
The Solution
What we need is a High-Speed Magnetic Levitation road system, right down to the community level. High-Speed Rail(HS Rail) is the inevitable future of transportation for the world. Yes it's more expensive than conventional highway building, but we can offset some of the price by doing all the work ourselves.
We manufacture and build the parts right here in Texas using the TSW in work communities built by...the TSW. We build the network ourselves, attach it to the TPG, and even manufacture the vehicles for it.
The plan is to make pre-manufactured sections that are joined together. In these sections we will also run; all of our electricity, Fiber Optic Cable for telecommunications and Broadband, Cell Phone transceivers, Radio and Television broadcast equipment, and a redundant cable line. They will be installed mostly below ground or on re-enforced dirt-berm or concrete where above ground is necessary.
If we make ALL roads this way we will have so many different arteries for power to be distributed, that they are essentially Storm and Terrorist proof. So what happens during and after a severe storm will be the same as what happens every day, pure, clean, uninterrupted power. Sure, you may have to slow it down on the Rail, but it is safer than being in a regular car on the highway in a storm. It will not be easy to destroy a section, and roads are connected by many different junctions, basically making it impossible to shut the system down, or, cut off power to anything more than a small community. With the small communities generating their own power through the EGS and individuals with their PPI system, there would still be negligible, if any, effect.
Putting this system to work we could also remove all Power Lines, Cell Phone Towers, and . . . billboards?
For the system to function properly we need to increase the volumn of traffic, if we can't make highways wider, we have to increase the speed, hence High-Speed Rail. Inside of metropolitan areas and other urban communities, I would suggest 150 mph HS Rail, in rural areas the typical 350+ mph HS Rail.
We will need to build the vehicles that travel this system, from personal to commercial, people carriers to cargo haulers. The system will need to replace cars, trucks, Semi's, and trains. They will be designed, not only to travel the HS-Rail, but be able to travel on the regular roads we are all used to. A group out of Dallas has figured out how to recharge a battery in 5 minutes, so we will be able to travel outside of the system with only minor inconveniences. It will be as easy and quick to recharge as to refuel.
Eventually, every State and country will be beating down our door to help them install this very system.
*thanks ABC Eyewitness News for that report
