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An Anonymous Coward writes:
BusinessInsider reports on some creative solutions that have been submitted for "The Trump Wall"
Main link:
http://www.businessinsider.com/design-trumps-border-wall-hyperloop-2017-4
Homeland Security has put out a request for proposal and some of the submissions are truly creative. This article focuses on a joint Mexican-US proposal to convert land along the border to a neutral zone and build a Hyperloop along the border.
The Trump administration is reviewing design bids for its proposed wall along the US-Mexico border. But not all plans are interpreting the word "wall" literally.
A group of Mexican and American engineers and urban planners called MADE Collective want to build a $1 trillion hyperloop transportation network instead. The plan would turn the border into a shared nation, called Otra Nation, with an independent local government and nonvoting representatives in the US and Mexican legislatures.
...
The plan would cost approximately $15 billion — less than the $21 billion that the Department of Homeland Security estimated a border wall would cost. The designers also predict that their system would create $1 trillion in trade.
...
The group submitted its design to the US Customs and Border Protection's official call for proposals in March.
While this certainly wasn't what your AC was expecting, it appears to be a completely serious proposal from experienced builders and planners -- http://www.otranation.com/proposal
Other proposals submitted include:
MADE Collective is not the only one to submit a fantastical design for the border wall. Other proposals include a wall covered in solar panels, a binational park, and an "Inflatoborder" made of plastic bubbles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @05:18PM (1 child)
First, it's not a vacuum. It's reduced pressure. The proposed design involves electric turbine propulsion, plus air-bearing skids for support, so it obviously wouldn't work in a vacuum. Speeds are limited to about 600 MPH due to the speed of sound; this can be increased by increasing the speed of sound: heat the gas and/or switch to a lighter molecule like hydrogen.
Second, the border is a completely fucking dumb place for this. We don't greatly need transport there. The route will be curvy. Mexicans will attack it. Maintenance workers will be attacked.
If you want this for real, you do this route: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 18 2017, @12:00AM
All of the docs are talking *near* vacuum. To argue partial vacuum is like arguing the difference between the colors 000,000,000 and 000,000,001.
We don't greatly need transport there.
You have never been on I-10 have you?