Technology and the Future of America's Infrastructure

TECHNOLOGYAND THE FUTURE OF AMERICA'S INFRASTRUCTURE CURRENT & FUTURE CHALLENGES 2013 REPORT CARD FOR AMERICA'S INFRASTUCTURE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS SCORED AMERICA'S HIGHWAYSYSTEMASA"D (POOR) GRADE D MEANS THE INFRASTRUCTURE IS IN POOR CONDITION BELOW STANDARD EXHIBITS SIGNIFICANT DETERIORATION CONDITION AND CAPACITY ARE OF SIGNIFICANT CONCERN WITH HIGH RISK OF FAILURE TRAFFIC & CONGESTION THE AVERAGE COMMUTER AN ESTIMATED 30% OF CONGESTION IN CITIES IS DUE TO PEOPLE CIRCLING 42% OF THE MAJOR LOSES$818 AND 38 HOURS, AND WASTES19 GALLONSOF URBAN HIGHWAYS IN THE U.S. ARE CONGESTED FUEL EACH YEAR IN TRAFFIC AROUND TRYING TO FIND A PARKING SPACE MAJOR COSTS $121 BILLION $199 BILLION $170 BILLION THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY THE CONGESTED MAJOR URBAN HIGHWAYS IN THE U.S. ARE ESTIMATED TO HAVE COST THE ECONOMY $121 BILLION IN THE NATIONAL CONGESTION COST IS ESTIMATED TO GROW TO $199 BILLION BY 2020 ADMINISTRATION ESTIMATES $170 BILLION WOULD BE NEEDED ANNUALLY TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE CONDITIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF HIGHWAYS WASTED TIME AND FUEL ECONOMIC IMPACT 65% 70% 70% OF U.S. MANUFACTURERS AGREE THAT ROADS ARE GETTING WORSE 65% OF U.S. MANUFACTURERS DO NOT BELIEVE THAT INFRASTRUCTURE WILL MEET DEMAND OVER THE NEXT 10 TO 15 YEARS TECH IMPROVEMENTS LA TRAFFIC SIGNAL SYNCHRONIZATION MAGNETIC SENSORS SEND LOS ANGELES SYNCHRONIZED REAL-TIME TRAFFIC DATA TO A CENTRAL COMMAND, WHICH IN TURN ADJUSTS THE TIMING OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS BASED ON CONGESTION 44.000 TRAFFIC SIGNALS ACROSS 469 SQUARE MILES OF THE CITY 20 YEARS IT TOOK MORE THAN 20 YEARSTO COMPLETE TRAVEL TIMES HAVE BEEN REDUCED BY AND IS THE LARGEST EFFORT OF 12% AND AVERAGE SPEEDS INCREASED BY 16% ITS KIND IN THE WORLD PARKING & ELECTRIC SIGNALS SEATTLE SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO HAS SENSORS SEATTLE HAS ELECTRONIC SIGNS THAT STATE HOW MANY PARKING SPACES ARE AVAILABLE IN NEARBY INSTALLED ON7,000 OF ITS 28,000 ON-STREET PARKING SPACES GARAGES PRICES VARY DEPENDING ON HOW A SMARTPHONE APP IS ALSO MANY SPACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE IN THE AREA TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE PARKED IN BUSY AREAS TO TAKE THE SPOT FOR A SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME AVAILABLE TO HELP FIND AN OPEN PARKING SPACE TALKING CARS 9 OUT OF 10 DRIVERS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED THE VEHICLES CAN BE EQUIPPED WITH WI-FI TECHNOLOGY THAT WILL ENABLE VEHICLES AND INFRASTRUCTURE TO "TALK" TO EACH OTHER IN REAL TIME TO WARN OF SAFETY HAZARDS VEHICLE-TO-VEHICLE COMMUNICATION ENJOYED THE SAFETY BENEFITS AND WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THE SAFETY FEATURES IN THEIR PERSONAL CAR 3,000 IN ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, NEARLY 3,000 CARS, TRUCKS AND BUSES WERE EQUIPPED WITH THE THE FIRST EVER ROAD TEST TECHNOLOGY IN 2012 FUTURE OF ROAD CONSTRUCTION VIRGINIA'S SMART ROAD PROJECT A 5.7-MILE STRETCH OF ROAD LINKING INTERSTATE 81 AND BLACKSBURG, VIRGINIA, HOME OF VIRGINIA TECH'S TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE THE SMART ROAD WILL BEA TESTING GROUND FORAVARIETY OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES, INCLUDING: FIBER-OPTIC CABLE LINKING MORE THAN I 400 ELECTRONIC SENSORS TO MONITOR | 3M MAGNETICTAPE TO MEASURE VEHICLE LANE DEVIATIONS AND HELP ASSESS DRIVER PERFORMANCE CONCRETE STRESS ASPHALT STRAIN SOIL PRESSURE MOISTURE PENETRATION FROST DEPTH VEHICLE SPEED/WEIGHT TRAFFIC COUNTS LOCAL AREA WIRELESS NETWORK FOR SHORT-RANGE COMMUNICATIONS AND FUTURE INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS IMPROVED PAVEMENT THE ROUGHNESS OF INTERSTATE PAVEMENT ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 555 MILLION GALLONS OF FUEL WASTE PER YEAR IN THE U.S. MIT'S CONCRETE SUSTAINABILITY HUB (CSH) IS LOOKING TO REDUCE CONCRETE'S ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, INCREASE ITS PERFORMANCE AND IMPROVE ITS PRODUCTION PROCESSES BY SWITCHING TO STIFFER PAVEMENT, HIGHWAY AUTHORITIES COULD BOOST VEHICLE FUEL ECONOMY BY UP TO 3% SOLAR POWER THE PROJECT "SOLAR ROADWAYS" AIMS TO REPLACE ASPHALT HIGHWAYS WITH STRUCTURALLY-ENGINEERED SOLAR PANELS THE PROTOT YPE SOLAR PANELS FEATURE SOLAR CELLS EMBEDDED IN A SUPER STRONG CASE, LEDS THAT ILLUMINATE ROAD LINES AND HEATING ELEMENTS TO HELP RESIST ICE AND SNOW IF 72,000 SQUARE KILOMETERS OF HIGHWAYS IN THE U.S. WERE REPLACED WITH SOLAR PANELS IT COULD PRODUCE MORE THAN THREE TIMES THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY THE U.S. USES PILOT TESTS HAVE 79MPH 3600W PROVEN SUFFICIENT TRACTION WITH A TEXTURED SURFACE THAT CAN STOP A VEHICLE TRAVELING 79 MPH ON A WET PREVENTED SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATION IN A PARKING LOT WHILE PRODUCING 3600W OF POWER SURFACE IN THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF DISTANCE 125 ΤΟNS PASSED LOAD TESTING FOR VEHICLES WEIGHING UP TO 125 TONS WITHOUT BREAKING FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION HYPERLOOP 70OMPH THE HYPERLOOP IS ATYPE OF VACUUM TRAIN THAT WOULD BE BUILT ON PYLONS IN THE MEDIAN OF CALIFORNIA I-5, THUS MINIMIZING INTRUSIONS TO FARMS OR PRIVATE PROPERTY UNLIKE OTHER TRAINS OR HIGH SPEED RAILS THIS THEORETICAL VACUUM TRAIN WOULD TRAVEL AT SUBSONIC SPEEDS OF MORE THAN 700 MPH LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO IT WOULD COMPLETE THE 350-MILE THE DESIGN FOR THE HYPERLOOP ACCOMODATES JOURNEY BETWEEN LOS ANGELES 28 PASSENGERS PER TRAIN WITH A MERE TWO MINUTES BETWEEN TRAINS (OR 30 SECONDS DURING RUSH HOUR) AND SAN FRANCISCO IN 35 MINUTES 111111 AN ESTIMATED 7.4 MILLION PEOPLE COULD THE ESTIMATED COST TO BUILD THE HYPERLOOP IS BE TRANSPORTED EACH WAY EVERY YEAR LESS THAN $6 BILLION, A FRACTION OF THE COST OF THE $68.4 BILLION PROPOSED CALIFORNIA HIGH SPEED RAIL TUBULAR RAILS AN AIR-CUSHIONED TRAIN SYSTEM THAT GUIDES A SINGLE RIGID TRAIN THROUGH ELEVETED SUPPORT RINGS MOST FUTURE TRANSPORTATION IDEAS SUGGESTS VACUUM TRAINS OR UNDERGROUND HIGH SPEED RAILS, BUT THE TUBULAR RAILS PLAN THE TRAINS WOULD PASS THROUGH ABOVEGROUND "RINGS" THAT ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO TURN THE TRAIN ITSELF INTO A CANTILEVER BRIDGE SYSTEM AS IT PASSES THROUGH THE RINGS, THUS MAKING NO TUBE PROPOSES TO BUILD A TRAIN WITH NO RAILS OR TRACK NECESSARY 150MPH THE MINIMAL DISRUPTION TO INFRASTRUCTURE AND TECHNOLOGY CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TUBULAR RAILS ARE ESTIMATED TO BE ABLE WOULD KEEP THE COSTS DOWN TO 60% LESS THAN TO TRAVEL UP TO150 MPH CONVENTIONAL URBAN TRAIN NETWORKS HUMAN-POWERED TRANSPORTATION A HUMAN-POWERED MONORAIL SYSTEM THE SHWEEB IS ALREADY AVAILABLE TO TRY IN CALLED SHWEEB USES BICYCLE PEDALING IN ADVENTURE PARK IN NEW ZEALAND AND ALLOWS PODS SUSPENDED FROMA MONORAIL TRACK FOR TRAVEL UP TO 28 MPH THE EFFICIENT SYSTEM IS PROPOSED AS A METHOD OF TRAVEL FOR SHORT-DISTANCE URBAN COMMUTING, SCENIC ROUTES AND RECREATION SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES CAR ACCIDENTS TRAFFICINCIDENTS, ESPECIALLY CAR ACCIDENTS, ACCOUNT FOR ABOUT 25% OF TOTAL TRAFFIC DELAYS SINCE A VAST MAJORITY OF CAR CRASHES ARE DUE TO HUMAN ERROR, SELF-DRIVING CARS WILL HELP TO PREVENT MANY CRASHES AND RESULTING TRAFFIC DELAYS IN 2012, THERE WERE 33,561 2012 TRAFFIC FATALITIES IN THE U.S. WERE CAUSED BY DRUNK DRIVERS WERE CAUSED 10% WERE CAUSED BY DISTRACTED DRIVERS 30% 31% BY SPEEDING IN 2011, THERE WERE MORE THAN 5.3 MILLION CAR CRASHES, RESULTING IN MORE THAN 2.2 MILLION INJURIES AND MORE THAN 32,000 FATALITIES IN 2010, 93% OF THE SIX MILLION CAR 2011 CRASHES IN THE U.S. WERE ATTRIBUTED TO HUMAN ERROR 2010 FLOW OF TRAFFIC & CONGESTION SELF-DRIVING CARS COUPLED WITH "SMART INTERSECTIONS" THAT COMMUNICATE WITH VEHICLES TO LET THEM PASSS WITHOUT TRADITIONAL SPOTLIGHT TIMING COULD RESULT IN LESS CONGESTION SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES ARE EXPECTED TO HAVE FASTER REACTION AND MORE FINELY TUNED ADJUSTMENTS THAT WILL ALLOW THEM TO TRAVEL SAFELY AT FASTER SPEEDS WITH MORE CARS ON THE ROAD BY MAKING TRAVEL MUCH MORE EFFICIENT, SELF-DRIVING CARS COULD REDUCE OR ELIMINATE START-AND-STOP TRAFFIC THAT WILL HELP TO REDUCE THE USUAL CONGESTION DURING PEAK HOURS FUEL USE 27.3 G145 THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (NRC) ESTIMATED THE POTENTIAL FUEL ECONOMY IMPROVEMENTS TO CONVENTIONAL VEHICLES AND HYBRIDS COULD INCREASE MPG TO 145 BY 2050 IN 2012, THE AVERAGE FUEL ECONOMY OF CARS WAS 27.3 MPG 175-290 THE NRC SUGGESTED SELF-DRIVING CARS THAT ARE SAFER, SMALLER AND DRIVE MORE I EFFICIENTLY COULD ENABLE A REDUCTION IN FUEL CONSUMPTION THAT IS MORE THAN DOUBLE THEIR ESTIMATES FOR CONVENTIONAL AND HYBRID VEHICLES THIS SUGGESTION COULD PUT SELF-DRIVING CARS AT ROUGHLY 175-290 MPG BY 2050 SOURCES http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org http://www.gizmag.com/future-transport/22959 http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR443-1.html http://www.virginiadot.org/projects/constsal-smartrdfacts.asp http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/tech/infrastructure-moving-faster http://www.spacex.com/sites/spacex/files/hyperloop_alpha-20130812.pdf http://www.gizmag.com/volvo-sartre-road-train-project-first-public-road-test/22707 http://d2dtlSnnlpfror.cloudfront.net/tti.tamu.edu/documents/mobility-report-2012.pdf http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/12/tech/solar-powered-roads-coming-highway/index.html http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1093636_no-you-cant-drive-better-than-an-autonomous-car http://www.nam.org/-/media/BB5F7CB7B89349BA9ADA575663AAF499/NAM-BAF-Infrastructure-Survey.pdf http://enr.construction.com/products/materials/2012/1015-boosting-fuel-economy-where-the-rubber-meets-the-road.asp http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/innovation-nanotechnology-based-process-to-improve-life-cycle-of-roads/1/366895.html http://www.nhtsagov/About NHTSA/Press Releases/DOT Launches Largest-Ever Road Test of Connected•Vehicle Crash Avoidance Technology http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2009-10/three-extreme-high-speed-rail-systems-las-vegas OHIO UNIVERSITY engineeringer.online.ohio.edu