American engineers and constructors have the experience and knowledge to solve the traffic problems that have begun to overwhelm us in recent decades; the daily traffic congestion and inadequate transit in cities, the congested and near bankrupt airlines, the inadequate train service to fill the gap between air and auto, our dangerous mix of trucks and autos, and our even more dangerous over reliance on petroleum fuels. Our political and economic climate inhibit solution while European and Asian nations surge ahead of us, taking away the leadership role we held since World War II with our Interstate Highway system and jet airliners. How and why did our travel lose its comfort, reliability and convenience? What role did political and economic corruption play in our failures? How did Europe and Japan, and probably soon South, East and Southeast Asia, surpass us in fast trains, magnetic levitation (our own invention!), traffic management and transit?
The author, with an understanding gained from years within high levels of state and federal transportation planning and construction, details problems and describes the effects of unresolved problems. He offers solutions sufficient to remove the blockades to action, and foresees a balanced transportation system achievable by 2050, with minimum use of petroleum and a maximum of cleanly generated electric power supplemented by hydrogen fuel cells. All the science is readily available, or apparently to be attained in the immediate future. The prediction of the velocities of super-safe transcontinental and transoceanic trains is so high they seem impossible until the methods to be used are explained. The author recognizes that in half a century, innovations we cannot now envision will be in daily use. Did we in 1950 expect personal computers, cell phones and the Internet?
The author, with an understanding gained from years within high levels of state and federal transportation planning and construction, details problems and describes the effects of unresolved problems. He offers solutions sufficient to remove the blockades to action, and foresees a balanced transportation system achievable by 2050, with minimum use of petroleum and a maximum of cleanly generated electric power supplemented by hydrogen fuel cells. All the science is readily available, or apparently to be attained in the immediate future. The prediction of the velocities of super-safe transcontinental and transoceanic trains is so high they seem impossible until the methods to be used are explained. The author recognizes that in half a century, innovations we cannot now envision will be in daily use. Did we in 1950 expect personal computers, cell phones and the Internet?
