i think we should invest instead in more and better rail systems for freight.

PS, the Garden State Parkway in Jersey doesn’t have truck only lanes, however the Jersey Turnpike does for about half its length as it nears New York City. Or better put, it has car only lanes. The highway splits into two parts, cars only on the left side, and no restrictions on the right side.

As for traffic jams, i find that barring an accident, both sides carry about the same amount of traffic. If there is a problem on one set of lanes, one can move to the other if in a car, so they are always about even.

Also understand that this is wildly expensive in terms of construction, real estate and management, and that the tolls are kinda high, and due to get higher. And in Jersey, there is simply no more room for even more highways – anywhere. We are full. I doubt that there will be any more major highway consturction in the entire Northeast corridor anywhere.

At least I hope not.

Semi-trucks may play some role in the traffic issues entering and leaving the city, but I attribute FAR more of the problem to people that are just too freakin’ stupid to drive! Whether it’s lack of driver’s eduction and training, disregard for fellow drivers or maybe mental retardation…but I can spot at least ten “problem drivers” during my 83-mile round trip commute each day.

By far, the two offenses that I see over and over countless times are-

1) Having no concept or understanding of the phrase “slower traffic keep right” and instead parking against the wall of the left lane of a 7-lane interstate poking along at 55mph while all the lanes to the right move faster than you!

2) Apparently, a substantial number of motorists here do not bother to look ahead and attempt to anticipate if any change in speed or lane is needed. They must forget that those on-ramps they pass every single day will likely have cars on them that need to merge into the traffic flow. Rather than adjusting speed or changing lanes to allow them to merge, they completely ignore them until they either slam on the brakes OR force the merging traffic into the shoulder/emergency lane of the highway.

Seriously….the driving test should be MUCH more difficult. I like to believe that the dumbest of people will weed themselves out eventually, but I don’t want them to off me in the process!!!

the above written by one of our posters here is a good observation.

My suggestion is to nationalise the rail lines mostly just the major routes, but not the rolling stock. Then the track maintenace would become a Federal responsibility, just as the paved roads are. Then invite trucking companies to set up intermodal facilities with their own rolling stock.

Computers would control traffic with speeds limited to 40mph. Rail crossings could also be set up like conventional intersections but with look-ahead sensors as before so trains needn’t stop.

Limit trains to hauling ten railcars so that much lower cost tractor units could be employed and thus encourage a competitive environment for new entrants.
T2

the above written by one of our posters here is a good observation.

My suggestion here is to nationalise the rail lines mostly just the major routes, but not the rolling stock. Then the track maintenace would become a Federal responsibility, just as the paved roads are. Then invite trucking companies to set up intermodal facilities with their own rolling stock.

Computers would control traffic with speeds limited to 40mph. Rail crossings could also be set up like conventional intersections but with look-ahead sensors so trains needn’t stop.

Limit trains to hauling ten railcars so that much lower cost tractor units could be employed and thus encourage a competitive environment for new entrants.
T2

Somehow, this doesn’t seem right.

And, you sure don’t need dedicated roads for three-trailer rigs — some states have been running them in normal traffic for years. Though, the triple-rigs do cause cause their own kind of damage — they are especially hard on bridges. They’re a good way to squeeze a decade or two of life out of your bridges….

As for Cali, doesn’t matter; it should fall into the Pacific sooner or later, clearing all the traffic jams.

Even more interesting is that on those sections of the NJ Turnpike that split the car and truck lanes, the car lanes usually get traffic backups sooner than the truck lanes.

Sure, it’s a compelling idea and subject that could bear further discussion, but seriously, I don’t exactly enjoy paying $4 for a couple tomatoes at Safeway, but I sure know I wouldn’t enjoy paying $10 for the same tomatoes and a 90% increase in licensing fees.

“It takes two lanes of a given size to move 40,000 people across a bridge in one hour by using modern trains, four to move them on buses, 12 to move them in their cars, and only one lane for them to pedal across on bicycles.”
– Ivan Illich, Energy And Equity, 1974, p.62

I’m sick of seeing our highways become free warehouse space.

Rail is cheaper, more ecological, and doesn’t throw blown tire carcasses all over the road.

If anything positive comes from the current gas crises, I hope that it revitalizes the rail freight industry.

Ryan

On the other hand, with fuel costs increasing dramatically, just-in-time processes become more expensive. Just-in-time treats goods in motion or stuck in a warehouse as stranded money that isn’t doing anything for you. At some point, it becomes economically feasible to accept the extra handling, extra transit time and warehousing costs that moving goods by rail imposes on you.

Doesn’t prevent traffic jams, and actually exacerbates them when the two sets of traffic merge back together. It may work if it were set up as purely cars or purely trucks, but I doubt it. Vehicle density will always be the key driver. Either higher speeds or more real estate will be needed to reduce traffic congestion.

As for Cali, doesn’t matter; it should fall into the Pacific sooner or later, clearing all the traffic jams.

Separate roads do exist in some limited capactiy, North of L.A. on the 5 freeway there are truck bypass lanes but they are open to cars too (?).

Question, does anyone know the law in CA at least regarding what lanes big rigs can occupy? I drive the 60 fwy daily and see dozens of truck out in the number 2 or 3 lane chugging along and backing up everything behind them. It seems they have no care about the effect of trying to pass another truck that is going 2 mph slower than they are. I say vanquish these guys to the right lane.

Oh and no busses or commercial vehicles in the carpool lane.

I am referencing intermodal (Container on Flat Car) since Long Beach was referenced as an origin point. This traffic is not dependent upon a receiver having a rail siding. That is the engine of growth for rail; handling all of those containers that come into Long Beach now. They go all over the U.S. and are then drayed from intermodal yards to destination. There is a tremendous volume that moves from Long Beach to Chicago via the ex ATSF Railway and there is significant expansion being built in Chicago. Agreed on LCL freight (like less than truckload), rails abandonded that rightly so in 1968.

As for rail capacity, check out CSX’s web site for all of the expansion that they are building in New York, Georgia and Florida. Same for UP in west of Omaha. Excess rail capacity is a thing of the past! The railroads’ ton mileage has expanded greatly since 2003, it has only slowed since the end of 2007 due to the building slowdown though it is up by 4.4% (according to the Association of American Railroads)since 2005 alone. As an aside there is more coal moving on rail now than at anytime in history. Most of the cars that you see sitting are Forest Product cars like centerbeam cars, woodchip cars and boxcars that have been idled due to markets that have collapsed like the building slowdown(bust). I’m not a rail foamer, but I was in it the biz for 20 years and still consult with some shortlines.

Back to the point, we can’t keep building highways as we can’t fix our existing ones (reference I-35 in Minnesota)much less pay for new ones. We need a comprehensive transportation policy in this country and rail has to be part of it.

Thx.

“100% of all road damage from semis? Surely cars have to exert some small wear & tear on roads.”

Its very small indeed. Mechanical non-weather damage to roads goes as the third or fourth power of axle weight. 40 tons and five axles is 500 to 4000 times worse than 2 tons and two axles – per axle. Per vehicle, its 1250 to 10000 times the damage. Worse than that as the truck lead ‘axle’ is lighter. When you see a sign on a rig proclaiming how much they pay in road taxes, its self serving BS.

Also, our current rail system is not even near capacity today. You would think the cost of gas would push more cargo to the rail system but instead the rail lines have miles and miles of parked cars because of limited opportunities to be a substitute.

There is nothing more efficient than rail and they (BNSF Railway & Union Pacific Railroad) are privatized.

It’s theoretically not a bad idea, but it’s effectively a trucking subsidy and creates an incentive to use trucking instead of rail, which may defeat the point.