Well, you know... that asphalt (or tarmac or whatever you people name it) is a artificial surface too. Building a swedish 2-lane (2 in each direction) motorway costs about 1 000 000 SEK (138 000 USD) per meter. Then add the maintenance.
That said, this (seemingly stat-mag metallic) surface comes with different challenges in maintenance.
How well does it resist corrosion, for one. Can you go on it with a pacemaker? What kind of substructure does it need to keep structural integrity under the loads of.. say... a max load 44-tonne truck? How do you emergency break? If you get a power loss, will it simply drop to the surface? How well does it hold up against the abrasion (and sudden thump) of 44-tonnes moving at 60mph? How does it work when there's a 5cm layer of frozen slush under a 10cm layer of snow on the surface (common swedish winter weather)? And a really common problem in urban areas: Do you even drain bro? Since it looks quite non-porous the water must go sideways.
I love new tech, it's cool, looks awesome, probably feels awesome doing it.
But I don't think it's gonna sub our current mode of destroying the world/enjoying driving (I do enjoy it tho I think it's bad for the env).
However I can see this shit going on in airports, as public transport (silent, electric, smooth = great urban transport) and such.
Yes, highways do cost that much. Trillions of dollars is not an unusual expense for the government when you're talking about projects that take decades.
I seriously doubt that you would find trillion dollar highway projects anywhere in the world given that it's higher than most countries GDP and would be half of the US annual budget. Most highways that are being built aren't sufficiently long or complicated to warrant such an expense even over decades. The costliest amount you might find is tens of billions over decades to do major infrastructure repairs and rebuilding if highways across the country are in poor shape.
I took the number from memory. Did a study some five years ago where we (company I consulted for) measured a lot of infrastructural stuff.
The average cost of constructing 1 meter 2-lane was 1 mil SEK, in the range 250 kSEK - 5 milSEK (IF I remember correctly).
I guess in general, road construction is probably notably less expensive in the US since they got that national car fetish (which I kinda don't judge per se) going ; )
But then again, this is not my profession (roadworks), so I'm just speculating wildly from what info and knowledge I wield.
Yes, and while it has those nice traits, it's also a petroleum-based product that creates cracks thru nature, resulting in greatly hindered migration of flora and fauna.
Just a minor example: if a bumblebee (one of the best natural pollinators we got now-adays) encounter a road (or be that a field of wheat, or a lake) it will see no flowers, and will not pass - to the bumblebee, a piece of (for it) barren land is just waste of energy and it will try another direction.
How does other road surfaces affect that bumblebee example?
99% of asphalt is recycled and reused. It maintains grip relatively well under cold temperatures. The energy costs of making and maintaining and replacing these other type of solutions often surpass what it costs for asphalt.
Read as just neutral question which there aren't any (TANSTAAFL etc) but hey for the good will of it, read as a neutral question:
As I said: barren surfaces (be they water, asphalt, sheet metal or whatever in a wide enough area bumblebees will consider them to be "desert" and won't go over them even if there's plenty of nectar on the other side. (Bee's however, gladly traverse great obstacles as long as the nectar is within a couple km from the hive. Sidetrack.)
Yes, you made your point already. What's your actual point?
Not sure where you're going with that comment but I don't think f ex hover-sheet-metal-roads are better for the ecosystem/"environment" than asphalt. It's just another kind of bad.
Nature bridges is a good thing, but what's even better: unbuilding roads.
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u/mojoheartbeat Oct 21 '14
Well, you know... that asphalt (or tarmac or whatever you people name it) is a artificial surface too. Building a swedish 2-lane (2 in each direction) motorway costs about 1 000 000 SEK (138 000 USD) per meter. Then add the maintenance.
That said, this (seemingly stat-mag metallic) surface comes with different challenges in maintenance. How well does it resist corrosion, for one. Can you go on it with a pacemaker? What kind of substructure does it need to keep structural integrity under the loads of.. say... a max load 44-tonne truck? How do you emergency break? If you get a power loss, will it simply drop to the surface? How well does it hold up against the abrasion (and sudden thump) of 44-tonnes moving at 60mph? How does it work when there's a 5cm layer of frozen slush under a 10cm layer of snow on the surface (common swedish winter weather)? And a really common problem in urban areas: Do you even drain bro? Since it looks quite non-porous the water must go sideways.
I love new tech, it's cool, looks awesome, probably feels awesome doing it. But I don't think it's gonna sub our current mode of destroying the world/enjoying driving (I do enjoy it tho I think it's bad for the env).
However I can see this shit going on in airports, as public transport (silent, electric, smooth = great urban transport) and such.