The only good thing to be said about the decades of under-investment in transportation is that the need has bred a culture of innovation. Driverless technology and the use of drones are but two examples of such innovative technology. This week, U of M is celebrating the grand opening of its connected and automated vehicle test facility. Mcity will certainly enable this technology to be tested on many different levels and support the continued integration of specific technologies to improve safety and mobility on the public road system.
There has also been much discussion about the use of drones in lieu of trucks to help deliver mail, packages, and groceries and perform other functions that could have the impact of reducing vehicle travel, improving safety, and increasing efficiency.
Both of these technologies have challenges for sure, but the greatest may be the issue of privacy. Congress and the Michigan legislature have yet to pass legislation to even consider something like a vehicle mile of travel (VMT) tax largely because of the issue of privacy. It is hard to see how they will allow this driverless technology to move forward without addressing these concerns. Another interesting bit of technology also has made some news recently – plastic roads!
That plastic soft drink bottle you recycle at the grocery could be transformed and become the road you drive to the grocery store. At least, that’s the idea of a small company in the Netherlands that wants to replace conventional asphalt and concrete with prefabricated roads made out of recycled plastic.
The concept creates Lego-like prefabricated segments that would be hauled to a construction site and assembled relatively quickly compared to current road construction methods. That could also make it easier to handle future repairs or changes to a road’s layout by simply snapping out old segments and replacing them with new ones.
Each segment is actually hollow, providing a path for wires, pipes, and drainage to be channeled through it. However, that does raise concerns about how to handle that infrastructure when repairing or replacing blocks later on.
Source: VolkerWessels – https://www.volkerwessels.com/en/projects/plasticroad
Some of these concepts are years away and some will die on the vine, but one thing is for sure – they will come with a price tag and likely a high one. Technology can help in the long run, but nothing will help if we continue to under invest in funding our transportation systems.
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