Comment on Detroit's newest road can charge electric cars as they drive on it

• Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  When you talk about maintaining the current infrastructure, you’re talking about completely replacing it anyway at a higher cost since it’s falling apart must be meticulously replaced with crappier materials. Why replace the same slow, century old infrastructure when you can replace it with high speed trains and rail that costs far less?

  There are so many obvious reasons to catch up with the rest of the world in terms of transportation.

  Because the current infrastructure doesn’t connect the country.

  Because that inadequate infrastructure is literally falling apart.

  Because poor Americans can’t easily move to places with better opportunity.

  Because rail can be enacted extremely quickly and positively impact the lives of 300 plus million people.

  Also, you’re completely wrong about the concentration of US population, which is very much concentrated on the east and west coasts.

  Affordable transportation benefits a country nationally and individuals immeasurably at a very low cost.

  Every country with trains has proven that, even the ones as large as the US.

  source

  • SCB@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    replacing it anyway at a higher cost since it’s falling apart must be meticulously replaced with crappier materials

    Can you provide a citation here?

    source

    • Varyk@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not nationally, only for a Denver metro track some council person told me about that they ended up spending more money and extra years refurbishing one line than it would have cost to replace multiple line.

      Refurbishing lines in the US, where the tracks are so old we’re replacing them anyway works too, however we can expand and modernize our ancient, prohibitively expensive transportation infrastructure is not as important as doing it.

      source

      • SCB@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        I have no problem whatsoever with rail expansion.

        I just think “cars bad trains good tear it all up” to be a gross oversimplification that isn’t helpful discourse.

        Like I’ve said elsewhere in this chain, I am extremely pro-mass-transit.

        source
• frezik@midwest.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  No, that’s completely wrong. The US concentrates a lot of population on the eastern seaboard, still has a lot of people as you move towards the Mississippi, but then quickly falls off to nothing as you hit the plains and Rocky Mountains. Picks up again right along the western seaboard.

  Yes, we do have a concentration of population a lot like this. Or more accurately, two separate concentration regions with mountains in between.

  source