Maybe it would be a good thing to just let our Interstates crumble and die..

[Virginia Dare]

http://geography.about.com/od/urbaneconomicgeography/a/interstates.htm

The Interstate Highways that were created to help protect and defend the United States of America were also to be used for commerce and travel. Though no one could have predicted it, the Interstate Highway was a major impetus for in the development of suburbanization and sprawl of U.S. cities. While Eisenhower never desired the Interstates to pass through or reach into the major cities of the U.S., it happened, and along with the Interstates came the problems of congestion, smog, automobile dependency, drop in densities of urban areas, the decline of mass transit, and others.

Can the damage produced by the Interstates be reversed? A great deal of change would be needed to bring it about.

[Vincardog]

1. How about a country wide system of trian and light rail?

[leveymg]

2. Just not while they're still in use. Is this what you have in mind?

Section of thruway abandoned for 36 years:

[Virginia Dare]

3. Bring back the horse and buggy!...

the Amish seem to get along fine without cars. Definitely not while they're in use, thanks for the clarification.

[Sequoia]

4. The new SUVs will be.....

[Virginia Dare]

11. They look like they're headin' out to Wal-Mart don't they?..n/t

[Sequoia]

17. Happy shiny people!

[marions ghost]

6. looks like a good place for a train to me...

n/t

[leveymg]

9. More . . . abandoned cities around the world

San Zhi



Unknown location



NOLA



Pripyat, Ukraine

[dkofos]

5. Only if they recind the gasoline taxes that we know pay.

[ThomWV]

7. I was just thinking about that yesterday. Will we need them in 10 years?

As you know I have been preaching that communications must supplant transportation in this country and continued investment in ribbons of concrete designed for nothing other than the 4 (or more) wheeled dionsaurmobiles we waste so much resource on today just dosen't make much sense.

Hydrogen and electric driven cars are a joke, suitable for discussion only among the perpetual motion folks only, so they are no reason to keep the things up.

[kenny blankenship]

8. Quite so! In ten years, everyone will have flying cars.

Highways will be useless. Goods will be moved from producer to consumer by mental teleportation.

[leveymg]

12. Naw, not until the year 2000, at the earliest.

[Virginia Dare]

14. Agreed Thom, it's insanity..

they can't build roads fast enough here in the D.C. area, and we're pretty darn close to total gridlock. I keep asking myself, what's going to happen when gas hits $10 a gallon? You know it's coming.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. Use the roadbeds

for high speed rail. I'd go for that.

[thunder rising]

13. Protected Privitization is the answer

just look at what it's done for the railroads. Now there's a success story.

100K cars/day at 25c each over 40 years and less that 10 dead when it collapsed. That's money in the bank.

[Virginia Dare]

15. Collateral damage...

that's all we are in the end to the bean counters.

[marions ghost]

16. creative ...

the Berlin wall fell, etc. Nothing is ever forever. With a little big picture thinking, we could turn this country around...

[WinkyDink]

18. It's about time for Repubs (and some Dems, e.g., my Gov. Rendell) to cry for "privatization".