Back to Main Menu
Next Page >>
Questions and comments pertaining to
Hybrid PT should be directed to:
Thomas Pumpelly (Email)
or
Tim Maier, Esquire (Email)
More than 100 years ago the first cars and trucks carried occupants and goods along unimproved or dirt roads. As cars and trucks evolved, so did roads. First stone roads, brick roads in urban areas and finally asphalt and concrete roads. From the one lane roads of the early 1900's roadways developed into highways and superhighways as cars were designed to reach higher speeds.
In 1956, Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act, creating a funding mechanism for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Interstate Highway System (“Interstate System”), and in September, 1956, Kansas became the first state in the Nation to start construction of an Interstate Highway. Approximately Fifty Thousand (50,000), miles of the Interstate System, have since been constructed and the Interstate System continues to be the largest public works project in history. Other countries have adopted the general design of the Interstate System. Designed to be bi-directional for normal use, the Interstate System is capable of uni-directional flow in the event of mass evacuation or military necessity. While the Federal Government owns some of the ground underlying the Interstate System, States and some local municipalities own the vast majority through funding received from Federal grants. Interstate System speed limits range from 55 to 80 mph.
In 1975, the first continuing, large scale, personal rapid transit system (“PRT”), was designed and implemented through a partnership between Boeing and West Virginia University. Today, the system (“WVA PRT”), routinely moves as many as 18,000 persons a day to, and from, various campus locations and downtown Morgantown, West Virginia. A standard WVA PRT car seats 9 with standing room for 12 more and travels at a speed of 55 mph or less averaging approximately 31 mph between 5 stations. The system costs approximately $31 Million per mile in present day dollars and requires constant, costly maintenance.
About the same time, various above-ground specialty rail systems were implemented in such places as Disney World in Orlando, Florida followed by systems in the downtown Miami, Florida business district and several other cities around the world. While suitable for their limited purposes, none of the current systems have developed a mechanical commonality, and none have the ability to move people outside the confines of their limited system loops.
Approximately 10 years ago, a computerized system for operating standard vehicles on common roadways, incorporating computerized steering, braking and speed controls (known as the “Intelligent Highway System”), was developed by automakers, universities and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Although several vehicles were driven long distances using only the Intelligent Highway System, the System stalled for a variety of reasons and was not implemented. Further adaptation of the Intelligent Highway System appears unlikely due to reasons, which are discussed further in Section10.8, “Debris Field”.
There has been no major implementation of new surface transportation technologies since 1956, and no major, wide scale, advance in Personal Rapid Transit (“PRT”), since 1975. At this time, there is no widely adaptable, viable, “next generation” personal surface transportation system under review by the U.S. Department of Transportation.