Should Illinois take the lead in road going cars and smart highways? (Normal: live in, zoning)

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by Smedskjaer

Somebody better tell the Ohio State University their Automated Highway System is ass-backwards then. The Virginia Department of Transportation better close down its Smart Road testbed too.

Technology can be abused, and this is one of the ways. I doubt it's a coincidence that those "smart" highway systems are being developed in the two states with the most bogus traffic laws and the most overbearing enforcement thereof. Virginia is legendary for that kind of stupid ****, and Ohio ain't far behind. The drivers in each state have been reduced to docile cattle who are nothing but liabilities when driving in other states with more forward-thinking traffic laws.

If anybody really thinks that driving 80 miles per hour on an Interstate highway is "reckless," then they do not deserve the privilege of Interstate driving. Stay on the arterials and the secondary roads, or take the bus. Leave the Interstates to those of us who actually know what the **** we're doing behind the wheel.

And I thank God that my drive between Pittsburgh and Athens passes through the narrowest part of Virginia. I don't even waste time pissing at their welcome centers anymore, and I go out of my way not to spend any money there. They get enough revenue from enforcing their horse**** traffic laws anyway, so they deserve not even a penny slug from me.

**** like this is exactly why I support the reexpansion of intercity rail transit. It has nothing to do with the environment, and everything to do with getting people off the Interstates who don't belong there. We might not even need capacity expansion if only states started making people have to actually earn their driver's licenses.

[Smedskjaer]

Originally Posted by linicx

You need to define highway. To me it is a surfaced road on which a vehicle can travel 55 mph or faster. you cannot do this on all county roads.

Can this smart car sense the deer that jump out of the woods and freeze in headlights without warning, marked school zones, dangerous curves and nine degree hills? How can you embed sensors in gravel or dirt roads - especially since they are regraded or re-graveled every year or two?

Designated multiple lane interstate and expressways.

Safety considerations such as automated braking and pedestrian-vehicular incident mitigation are technologies already found in cars today.

[linicx]

It sounds good on paper, and I actually embrace technology that works, but we are still going to need human drivers in rural America to navigte rural roads so as to avoid the deer and washed out bridges and some of the other little problems. There is nothing like a good whiteout with 10 foot snow drifts on fence lines to confuse the senses. Rural storms can be a real eye-opener.

[Smedskjaer]

I had to do a bit of research before replying, sorry for the delay.
I am talking about a sub-system of the National Highway System, the Interstate Highway System. It is a high density system that often gets jammed around Chicago.
Routes such as I-55, I-80, I-90, I-95 and their three digit branches in and around Chicago often reach capacity over the course of a year. Expansion with new auxiliary interstates is how we have dealt with growing traffic volume. I think maximizing the number of cars that can pass through what we already have is the best solution to traffic jams. It may even be a better solution than rail for areas directly surrounding Chicago.
But, this is a little bit of a pipe dream since we cannot bar cars from out of state from using I-90 to enter Chicago. It is a National System after all.

[linicx]

I don't think it is so much of a pipe dream, as it is logistics and politics. The US is 3000 miles East to West Coast and there are several congested areas across the nation in addition to the East and West Coast. Chicago traffic is a dream compared to I-5 in California. HSR from SD to SF with a stop in LA would be a dream come true for some. NOLA, Houston, Chicago, Boston, D.C. and Atlanta are some of the other congested areas. El Paso is a mess, too.

Chicago is not the only congested traffic problem in the U.S.. What Chicago has is ridership. Whereas some of the other areas are car dependent now.

[Smedskjaer]

But the question isn't if the nation should upgrade the highway system at the same time. The question is if Illinois should take the lead and update the system and require cars be capable of interfacing with the system?

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Smedskjaer

But the question isn't if the nation should upgrade the highway system at the same time. The question is if Illinois should take the lead and update the system and require cars be capable of interfacing with the system?

No, it should not. It it were to happen at all, it needs to be a national initiative for obvious logistic reasons that have already been covered in here. Not to mention being the only state to implement this system and mandate all cars use it could pose constitutional problems. Federal courts take an unkind view to laws and regulations that substantially impede movement across state lines. Telling 90% of the nation's drivers "you can't use our highways" probably won't go over very well.

[Smedskjaer]

Originally Posted by Drover

No, it should not. It it were to happen at all, it needs to be a national initiative for obvious logistic reasons that have already been covered in here. Not to mention being the only state to implement this system and mandate all cars use it could pose constitutional problems. Federal courts take an unkind view to laws and regulations that substantially impede movement across state lines. Telling 90% of the nation's drivers "you can't use our highways" probably won't go over very well.

But there are also intra-interstate highways such as I-88. It starts and ends in Illinois.
There are also the three digit extensions which start and end in state.

[linicx]

I don't think the problem is other cars could not ever use the existing highways. A car not equipt to use the new auxiliary system would use the other roads. There aer auniliary roads like I39 between Cairo and Wisconsin and IL 29 between Springfield and Chicago but none of this solves the Chicgao dilemma. ORD to Union Station.and from it to I-55 might alleaviate some congestion, but I would not be on it happening in this decade.

It makes more sence to do it in Chicago first. If you don't want to ride the rails for 5-6 hours to St. Louis, then by all means fly in under 2 hours. .

[Drover]

Originally Posted by Smedskjaer

But there are also intra-interstate highways such as I-88. It starts and ends in Illinois.
There are also the three digit extensions which start and end in state.

It doesn't matter if they're "intra-interstate." Regulating highways that are entirely within a state can still have an impact on interstate commerce. If that impact is substantial enough, the courts will nix it.