SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the Wir-fahr'n-fahr'n-fahr'n-auf-der-Autobahn dept.
Brought to the floor by Senator John Moorlach of Orange County, SB-319 would direct the state's Department of Transportation to build two unlimited speed lanes on each side of Interstate 5 and State Route 99, the main north-south arteries linking cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento. The sections of the roadways in question run straight through the supremely flat Central Valley, making for ideal high-speed driving conditions.
Perhaps paradoxically, California's answer to the German autobahn would be paid for by the state's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The text of SB-319 points out that the recent collapse of California's ambitious plan for a bullet train between Los Angeles and San Francisco, which was originally intended to trace the same route as the proposed unlimited speed lanes, has left residents without "access to high-speed, unabated transportation across the state."
http://www.thedrive.com/news/26554/california-might-add-lanes-with-no-speed-limits-to-major-highways
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday February 20 2019, @03:52AM (1 child)
Agree...in the central valley the tule fog in winter can be a real killer. People are used to driving 80~90 mph on that highway which is fine spring to fall. However it seems every winter there are big pile-ups on I-5. This guy Moorlach is batshit crazy if he thinks this is a good idea. Wonder how many times he's been been pulled over for going over 90 on I-5 going back and forth between Orange County and Sacramento?
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Wednesday February 20 2019, @03:51PM
Well, you could potentially close the autobahn whenever fog is present, or just all winter to be on the safe side. That's one of the benefits of it being an auxiliary roadway. Drops the expected ROI by ~25% though.
I've got a real problem with funding it from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund though - the entire point is to let people drive faster, which means the trip is less efficient *and* more appealing, and will thus predictably increase greenhouse gas emissions substantially.
Sure, the abandonment of the bullet train plan means residents won't have high-speed transportation across the state - but a bullet train is dramatically more efficient than an automobile per passenger-mile, while the speed offers incentive to passengers to take the train rather than driving.
The only way I could see to even begin to reconcile the fundamental discrepancy in results is if the autobahn were restricted to only high-efficiency vehicles - e.g. motorcycles and electric cars. But then you've got the whole population subsidizing a massive fast-lane available primarily to the rich and reckless. Hardly seems like a good use of government funds.