Transportation in the USA

Today, we must dare to think and act boldly because the world has dramatically changed since our transportation system was designed and built. If the U.S. government continues with its current transportation policies, it will undermine the social and economic security of our workforce and accelerate the dependence of America on foreign kings.
Look at the total cost of our transportation infrastructure and operation. It is not just the cost of gasoline at $4.00 + per gallon, Traffic congestion in 2005 drained $78 billion from our economy, according to Texas A&M's 2007 Urban Mobility Report, adding 4.2 billion hours to Americans' commutes while wasting 2.9 billion gallons of gasoline, airports and freight rails are just as congested. The transportation sector consumes 90 percent of the United States' imported oil. That is just the fuel component.
The greatest expense as a result of our dependence on the automobile is the annual loss of life due to accidents over 40,000 per year based on DOT figures. If transportation were a war the protests would be overwhelming.
Projected increases call for automotive travel to double by 2050. It is hard to imagine how a transportation system built on the current designs would function not to mention the release of greenhouse gas and other environmental problems.
America's transportation infrastructure is overburdened and obsolete. Why do we continue to stand on the same technology which has reached its useful life, gone are the days of the horse and buggy, the total dependence on the internal combustion engine should follow suit. It is not practical to stop in one day just like we still have a few buggies in use 100 years later. However, if we do not start planning and changing now we just might be forced to stop in one day with the same catastrophic results that we witnessed on 9/11 only with no end.
As a nation the United States of America passed the domestic oil production peak of our know reserves many years ago, unfortunately the main oil peak for the World is at hand if we have not already passed it.

All this to say what are we going to do about our dependence on oil? Who is our neighbor in our time of need? Our friends in NFTA provide the most secure source of oil outside of our borders.

But, why is the TTC the anchor piece of the new NAFTA transportation corridor project the most ambitious transportation project since the interstate highway system still based on oil as the major fuel source, even though it will not be fully operational for another 50 years?

We should have moved onto a more sustainable and efficient hydrogen energy economy in the last generation but gas guzzling cars etc. remain the same today. We are now facing the same questions and still making the same bad decisions that we made as a nation in the nineteen seventies. Despite the high cost of a barrel of crude, world demand shows no signs of slowing and here we are still building an oil based transportation system. What thoughtful congressmen we have. Do they not understand the reality of the world energy situation?

We have known what to do about this for a long time but have not taken the necessary actions. Again we have stood idly by for 40 years allowing the problem to grow worse. As a nation we should feel the urgency of the energy problem, it could wipe out life as we know it in the USA in a matter of days. The most important thing is to move toward a hydrogen based economy and make use of all know oil reserves and all other potential forms of energy available to us. We do not need to build new transportation systems based on oil. The remaining oil should be used to provide our needs during the conversion to a hydrogen economy.
That does not mean we stop the TTC but rather we change the focus of the design. For those of you who do not know what the TTC is: at present the Trans Texas Corridor is envisioned as an all-Texas transportation network of corridors up to 1,200 feet wide. The corridor will include separate toll-ways for passenger vehicles and trucks. The corridor also will include six rail lines (three in each direction): two tracks for highspeed passenger rail, two for commuter rail and two for freight. The third component of the corridor will be a protected network of safe and reliable utility lines for water, petroleum, natural gas, electricity and data.
As it is currently proposed we should not support the use of any federal transportation monies to the project. Why? As the first and most important part of the North American Utility access and transportation matrix the TTC corridor is petroleum dependent with all of the inherent problems.
National grid lock on the highways. All are at capacity and the excessive weight of increased truck traffic will only hasten the already desperate need for major repairs and upkeep on the existing system. Why build more grid locked highways.
TTC does not address the problem of National grid lock in the air. Congested Skies small jets, increased air travel, larger number of short hops. Result: airport gridlock. Often the time spend in the airport is longer than the time spend in travel. Why? Airlines like having more flights with smaller jets, passengers like it, too. People would prefer to fly between DFW and Houston rather than drive.
Eminent domain in common law legal systems is the inherent power of the state to seize a citizen's private property, expropriate property, or rights in property, without the owner's consent. The property is taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties who will devote it to "public use or civic" or in some cases, economic development. The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are public utilities, highways, and railroads.

In the United States we have traditionally held that the property earned by right was to be the individuals by right, not by permission of the government. Even, when the government body offers to purchase the property before resorting to the use of eminent domain it does not secure the right to own property. The right to own property is and must remain a bedrock principle of our nation. The size and scope of the TTC project as designed creates too many eminent domain issues.

So how do we address: Congestion on the highways, holding patterns over airports, and off schedule train connections which are now the order of the day.

If we look at how the most congested areas of the world handle mass transit the most striking revolutionary transportation technology that is suitable to prevent the ``heart attack'' of the present system is: magnetic levitation the (mag-lev) train, in Germany it’s know as Transrapid. In Japan it is JR-Maglev a magnetic levitation train system developed by the Japan Railway. This technology has been under development for more than 20 years. All the components are developed, and the overall system tested to the point that it is ready for commercial introduction. And yet the mag-lev train has been blocked for years. What is lacking is the competence of those politically responsible to plan and approve the introduction of this technology.

TTC is the ideal place to introduce this technology. Operational implementations of maglev technology have had minimal overlap with wheeled train technology and have not been compatible with conventional rail tracks. Because they cannot share existing infrastructure, maglevs must be designed as complete new transportation systems. The term "maglev" refers not only to the vehicles, but to the railway system as well, specifically designed for magnetic levitation and propulsion.

The mag-lev is the only form of transportation that moves without contact. Even aircraft cannot manage without wheels in their brief but crucial take-off and landing phases. The technological history of mankind began with the control of fire and the development of the wheel. The magnetic vehicle levitates and no longer needs wheels, and that shows what a revolution is involved here.


How would it work? Mag-lev systems are currently in use in Germany and Japan. However these mass transit systems still have some inherent problems which we need to avoid.


People or freight transfer points. At present in locations around
the world using mass transit rail more time is spent moving through the
terminal than on the actual trip itself. Long trains and large numbers
of people must meet at transportation hubs in the central city and be
rerouted for trips to final destinations either local or inter city.

The TTC Mag-lev design would solve this problem with one dedicated Long haul
intercity travel system ideal for high speed hub to hub travel with no
stops or cross paths in either direction. Major metro areas would be
served by a central hub and spoke network for mass transit with an outer
ring system. Rural areas would be served by systems capable of changing
directions.

2. Freight would be served on dedicated lines in both directions between
major metro areas with designed transfer locations outside the city
centers or using the existing freight corridor whichever is more practical. The standard freight container would continue to be used piggybacked on a mag-lev car.

3. Rights of way would be a lot easier to handle with mag-lev. Sub surface systems in metro areas or elevated supports eliminates cross traffic and allows access to land above or on both sides of the corridor.

4.Properly designed for long hauls the maglev system would have speeds approaching that of a jet plane.

5.The ultimate passenger design would use electric vehicles with batteries designed to be recharged while the vehicle is operating on a mag-lev trac and capable of 200 miles or more off trac between charges. This would replace the current HOV lanes going into major cities with mag-lev lanes to spur the change over in vehicle design.

6. For freight systems the ultimate design would be enhanced container transportation and security methods, based on technologies such as RFID, cellular and satellite communications. Depending on the technology and application, electronic tracking can not only log a container's movements around the world, but can also interface with the mag-lev control system for routing movement. Alerting administrators that, for instance, a container was opened without authorization is also possible with RFID. As the mag-lev trac provides the motive power and the vehicle is passive with only a communication link current containers can be used piggyback style.


Today as part of our new national energy policy we should be asking Congress to provide funding for the design and construction of the first leg of a new national Mag-lev transportation network, a transportation, power and utility network that will provide the most security for our nation against our current adversaries and unforeseen enemies of the future.

We should ask congress to begin withholding federal highway money for new projects from any state that does not begin to plan for the switch away from oil based transportation systems.

We should remove all exploration restrictions from US land and sea areas and allow states 50% of the royalties and 5% will be placed in an environmental fund.

A Non-petroleum based transportation system—Electric Hybrid, Hydrogen, solar or magnetic Hybrid is a must for the future of our country.


Almighty God, help us not to look at the immensity of the task before us, but help us to look at the immensity of our all-powerful God. With humankind many things are impossible but with You, our Father, nothing is impossible. We want to trust You for supernatural workings in our lives and in the duties before us. As we go about our daily activities help us to see the answer to the question “who is you neighbor?”. Help us to understand why it is important to come together as a nation not of individual free men without a purpose beyond our own desires but as people focused on the need to create a unified energy policy.

Lord we live in an open society, which can't be ruled but can be broken. The details of our decisions, our determination and how we function is available for the world to see. Our enemies seek to drive a wedge in, get their fingers on it -- and control us for their benefit. They won't need a whip – the yoke of oil and our own need for pleasure will do their work for them. They use the strength of our system of government against us. Our whole country’s for sale and, thanks to our addictions to trinkets and oil, we gladly hand over the dollars to buy it from beneath us.

Many citizens of foreign countries consider Americans self-indulgent, lazy and stupid. We have been doing our best to prove them right.
Lord, forgive us, provide us with the aspiration, ingenuity and the integrity to focus our efforts in ways that bring the greatest joy to you.
In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.