Paring down a 17 hour drive to just under 2 hours (1 Viewer)

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Linda

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Having returned from a vacation where we drove 3,000 miles, I have some opinions about traveling. I will say Texas has wonderful highways, but I digress. I saw info about the hyperloop idea a few years ago, and it looks like it is coming to fruition in the near future. The tag line for this mode of travel is moving at airline speed for the price of a bus ticket.

With Hyperloop One, passengers and cargo are loaded into a pod, and accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag. This week, the company finalized the tube installation on its 1640-foot-long DevLoop, located in the desert outside of Las Vegas; the facility serves as an outdoor lab for its proprietary levitation, propulsion, vacuum and control technologies.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyperloop-one-unveils-its-vision-for-america-details-11-routes-as-part-of-global-challenge-300435890.html
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyperloop-one-unveils-its-vision-for-america-details-11-routes-as-part-of-global-challenge-300435890.html
I do not see any info about the effects of this type of travel on the human body and am mighty interested in that aspect. It does offer much wider possibilities. A bunch of us could easily meet for dinner. On the other hand, I might have to keep up with the dusting in case some of you decided to drop by Lindaland. :ROFL:
 

Lila

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Some preliminary thoughts:

In addition to the effects on human bodies, I wonder about the effects on the environment and whether that is being taken into account. For example, I wonder if there is consideration being given to blending the tubes into the surrounding landscape by either placing them just underground or covering them with soil so that the surrounding landscape, wildlife and flora can, as seamlessly as possible, continue around it. Or some other solution that addresses this 'line across the landscape' that is sure to create sound, pressure and other waves as pods roll by.
On both issues, human and environmental, I am clear that I would like to see muuuuch more of this 'quadruple bottom line' type thinking (i.e. including environment and human social context impact issues and solutions into the design from the start).

Also, I am intrigued by their choice of proposed routes. They are not what I would expect and seem likely to change the direction of 'people flow' if folks chose to ride them, in a 'build it and they will come' type of way. This would be likely to change cities, roads and all kinds of stuff. Intriguing!

And I laugh to myself, thinking, "Oh, leave off on the dusting, @Linda!" I'd just love to visit and be visited":ROFL:
 
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Linda

Linda

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Interesting you mention the surrounding landscape. The pictures of the test model are far from pleasing. I noticed something similar on our trip as we drove through west Texas, one of the windiest places you could imagine. The wind farms have grown exponentially from the last time we were through there. The troubling thing to me was that many of them were on top of ridge lines and mesas. It was awful to see the visual pollution.
 
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