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http://www.curbed.com/2017/2/6/14521102/highway-the-ray-solar-power-transportation From the article:
Highways have never been the sexiest infrastructure projects, but Allie Kelly, the executive director of The Ray, believes that preconception will shift dramatically over the next few years due to rapid technological shifts. With politicians in Washington discussing the administration's ambitious infrastructure plans, now is the time to make investments in our transportation system. As far as Kelly is concerned, that vision should focus on achieving zero deaths, zero carbon, and zero waste. She hopes The Ray can serve as the laboratory where new ideas and revenue models are tried, tested, and proven possible.
"We're at a tipping point in transportation," says Kelly. "In five to ten years, we won't remember a time when we invested a dime in infrastructure spending for a road that only did one thing."
[...] Initially, the vision for The Ray was to add a solar installation in the median, along with a wildflower garden, to remind drivers about the environmental costs of the transportation system. But the results of the study suggested a more dramatic plan was needed. Since then, The Ray, in concert with the Georgia Department of Transportation, has slowly rolled out a number of new initiatives to improve both safety and sustainability. In 2015, a new electric charging station powered in part by photovoltaic panels, a joint project with funding from Kia Motors, became the first in the state.
This past year, the Ray added a strip of Wattway solar panels to an entrance ramp, and installed a WheelWright tire pressure sensor at a rest stop right next to the Alabama state line. The new British device helps drivers quickly test and maintain proper tire pressure, a leading cause of crashes.
Over the next year, the foundation plans to add more new tests that will help build out a more holistic roadway. A one megawatt solar installation will be installed in a right-of-way as part of a joint effort with Georgia Power to turn the highway into a place for power generation, and a series of bioswales—landscaped drainage ditches that naturally filter pollution—will turn the areas adjacent to the highway into more clean, sustainable, and natural landscapes.
"We're pushing the idea that these kind of installations can become widespread energy generation system for state departments of transportation," says Kelly. "Highways can eventually make money, and even serve as a power grid for the future."
Previous stories on solar roads and pathways:
Solar Generating Roads
SolaRoad Cycle Path Electricity Yield Exceeds Expectations
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 07 2017, @08:51PM
replace the weeds and mud or solar panels or WTF in the center with dual track electrified railway
Won't work. This is the South; there aren't enough people interested in traveling anywhere within the South by train, in the densities required to fill up trains, to make this economically viable. In fact, we already have Amtrak in the South, and almost no one uses it. It's just too slow. Making a train from, say, DC down to Atlanta along some existing highways isn't going to have enough ridership to work; it just takes too long to travel that far on the ground without high-speed rail. And that costs so much money that it only works with high ridership, which you won't get.
If you want to build something really useful, build a SkyTran system in the median.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 07 2017, @09:09PM
Possible although I was also thinking its a direct strike against existing railroad shippers. I mean what defines economic activity links quite like an interstate? And electric instead of diesel means no clouds of smoke for the drivers. And the price of diesel doesn't matter to electrics. They "should" be able to crush long distance trucking.
Heck, if you want an intermodal station to transfer container loads from trucks to trains and back again its gotta be on the interstate, oh so convenient.
Could carry some passengers in some locations, sure.
I'm thinking the future of high speed rail is being replaced by high speed internet conferencing and other remote work technologies. I can already take a 100 MPH train to Chicago and do so every year or two. I'm not interested in paying to the make the train go 300 MPH. I'd rather have fast network so I can work on the train.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday February 07 2017, @09:31PM
I'm thinking the future of high speed rail is being replaced by high speed internet conferencing and other remote work technologies.
Where are you getting this idea? I'm not seeing much of an uptake in remote work in the software industry, let alone other industries.
I can already take a 100 MPH train to Chicago
There's only a few trains in the US that go that fast; most are pretty darn slow. You're not going to get to Atlanta on a train that fast.
The idea of electric freight trains running parallel to the interstate does make a lot of sense though.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday February 07 2017, @10:40PM
There's only a few trains in the US that go that fast; most are pretty darn slow.
The Acela project caught a lot of flak because 100 MPH is normal BAU on plenty of commuter lines and Acela blew billions to go only 50 MPH faster.
You're probably thinking of Acela which is very limited in range.
Maybe a good analogy is when I was younger the highway speed limit was 65 pretty much nation wide except IIRC Montana where it was autoban or 80 or something. At least for a few years. Only a very small number of interstate miles traveled being at 80 doesn't mean everyone runs only 10 MPH on the interstates ro whatever.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday February 08 2017, @12:15AM
There currently is a train from DC down to Atlanta that approximately follows existing highways (or, more precisely, many of the Interstate highways were put in along existing train routes). It takes about 14 hours to go about 640 miles, for an average speed of 45 mph. I agree that's slower than it should be, but about 300,000 people a year seem to think it's good enough, and ridership has generally been going up, not down, for Amtrak. It's also slightly faster than the equivalent route via Greyhound bus, which suggests much of the delay has to do with it being public transit rather than something inherent about trains.
Interesting, it looks like a lot of the time is spent near major metro areas for both trains and buses, so what could potentially speed up Amtrak considerably would be the development of Amtrak-exclusive corridors around major cities.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.