5 ms·

I know it's not this company's focus, but I wish we had coast-to-coast and Mexico-to-Canada tunnels for travel and defense. Just imagine having no street-level

I know it's not this company's focus, but I wish we had coast-to-coast and Mexico-to-Canada tunnels for travel and defense. Just imagine having no street-level highways, and what that would means for animal migrations in more rural areas. Has me thinking of some iRobot scenes. :)

clairity 4y ago
that’s not practical for cross-country travel, but it’s imminently possible in cities. think how much greener and human scale cities would be if all cars were underground, including parking.
- dboreham 4y ago
  Don't need to imagine. Just go to Oslo.
  - clairity 4y ago
    i was actually reading a bit about oslo the other day. i'd wanted to see maps and pictures of the underground roads/parking but the article i was reading didn't have any.
- bobthepanda 4y ago
  The US has a construction cost problem. The Big Dig cost $24B. East Side Access cost $12B. Gateway Program will cost $30B, and every time you blink the cost goes up. It’s a miracle we actually build anything.
  - clairity 4y ago
    yes, and it's dismaying to say the least. we also do high-speed rail to nowhere for political not civic aims. ~85% of californians live near the coast, and/or wants to visit the coast, and we put rail through the central valley. even worse, the service is not going to be cost/time competitive with flying, not only because of the route but also inflated real estate and construction costs lining the pockets of all the favored rentiers with hats in hand.
tqkxzugoaupvwqr 4y ago
In other countries animal bridges connect habitats split by highways. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=animal+bridge&t=h_&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=animal+bridge&t=h_&iax=images&ia=i...
- nrp 4y ago
  There are over 1,000 wildlife overpasses and underpasses in America as well: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/31/climate/wildlife-crossings-animals.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/31/climate/wildl...
  - Schroedingersat 4y ago
    So that's enough for one national highway. What about the others?
phpisthebest 4y ago
At this point we probably need coast-to-coast tunnels / pipelines for moving water around
- asdff 4y ago
  Why? There is plenty of water in the west. It's just mismanaged by entrenched agrarian business interests.
  - phpisthebest 4y ago
    20+ year drought, all reservoirs at record low levels does not indicate "plenty of water" Sure the mismanaged water is a problem but I am not sure baring the use for "agrarian business interests" aka Food production, is the solution either. What is your solution or idea of proper management? Only Potable uses?
    - asdff 4y ago
      Switching from flood based irrigation to spot watering. Selecting different crops than cotton for mattresses and pistachios or alfalfa and hay used for export. Farmers in the West use a lot of water because they can due to their water rights agreement, then they say "given this water allocation, what crop will maximize my return on my dollar" and they end up doing stuff like growing pistachios as a result because that's where the incentives have pushed them. Adjust the incentives and the crop choices and practices in the west will change. We don't need the cotton fit for mattresses or $10 bags of pistacios to feed us. The midwest alone produces plenty enough biomass for this country. Much of it there as well is exported elsewhere for individualized profit.
      - Spooky23 4y ago
        It puts the whole country at risk. Because the desert has almost a perpetual growing season, everywhere else is out of business or at least sustainable business.
asdff 4y ago
The U.S. is too bought into security theaterism for this to happen. The border especially the southern border should feel like a state border. Border towns already have probably half their commuters playing this stupid "heres my papers sir" fascist border crossing game to go work their retail job in El Paso or wherever. It's a performance for politics at the end of the day which means its not going away any time soon as long as it continues to have political utility. San diego transit would run into TJ if this world had any logic, but instead you exit the train from san diego a few feet from the border and have to cross by foot into tj, because security theater. Meanwhile the cartel just reacts by opening more labs and grow operations stateside or digging tunnels themselves instead of having their business be at all affected by this security theater.
- thrwawy74 4y ago
  While I do understand 'security theater' and think we could do better, I have to wonder what it's like crossing from an EU country to a non-EU country. People abroad look at our border crossings and react strongly, but I think most of the time they're going from France to Germany (example). I'd love to see tunnels like this for easy transit that doesn't waste surface area/acreage.
BurningFrog 4y ago
This would be great for vampires. Also incredibly expensive.
bigiain 4y ago
> but I wish we had coast-to-coast and Mexico-to-Canada tunnels Like the Alameda-Weehawken burrito tunnel? https://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm https://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_...
- epicureanideal 4y ago
  It would be great to have a global version of this for some extremely quick delivery of goods from the other side of the world. Obviously with a price to match.
- calderwoodra 4y ago
  I believed this thing existed for a non-trivial amount of time

clairity 4y ago

that’s not practical for cross-country travel, but it’s imminently possible in cities. think how much greener and human scale cities would be if all cars were underground, including parking.

dboreham 4y ago
Don't need to imagine. Just go to Oslo.
- clairity 4y ago
  i was actually reading a bit about oslo the other day. i'd wanted to see maps and pictures of the underground roads/parking but the article i was reading didn't have any.
bobthepanda 4y ago
The US has a construction cost problem. The Big Dig cost $24B. East Side Access cost $12B. Gateway Program will cost $30B, and every time you blink the cost goes up. It’s a miracle we actually build anything.
- clairity 4y ago
  yes, and it's dismaying to say the least. we also do high-speed rail to nowhere for political not civic aims. ~85% of californians live near the coast, and/or wants to visit the coast, and we put rail through the central valley. even worse, the service is not going to be cost/time competitive with flying, not only because of the route but also inflated real estate and construction costs lining the pockets of all the favored rentiers with hats in hand.

tqkxzugoaupvwqr 4y ago

In other countries animal bridges connect habitats split by highways. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=animal+bridge&t=h_&iax=images&ia=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=animal+bridge&t=h_&iax=images&ia=i...

nrp 4y ago
There are over 1,000 wildlife overpasses and underpasses in America as well: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/31/climate/wildlife-crossings-animals.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/31/climate/wildl...
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  So that's enough for one national highway. What about the others?

phpisthebest 4y ago

At this point we probably need coast-to-coast tunnels / pipelines for moving water around

asdff 4y ago
Why? There is plenty of water in the west. It's just mismanaged by entrenched agrarian business interests.
- phpisthebest 4y ago
  20+ year drought, all reservoirs at record low levels does not indicate "plenty of water" Sure the mismanaged water is a problem but I am not sure baring the use for "agrarian business interests" aka Food production, is the solution either. What is your solution or idea of proper management? Only Potable uses?
  - asdff 4y ago
    Switching from flood based irrigation to spot watering. Selecting different crops than cotton for mattresses and pistachios or alfalfa and hay used for export. Farmers in the West use a lot of water because they can due to their water rights agreement, then they say "given this water allocation, what crop will maximize my return on my dollar" and they end up doing stuff like growing pistachios as a result because that's where the incentives have pushed them. Adjust the incentives and the crop choices and practices in the west will change. We don't need the cotton fit for mattresses or $10 bags of pistacios to feed us. The midwest alone produces plenty enough biomass for this country. Much of it there as well is exported elsewhere for individualized profit.
    - Spooky23 4y ago
      It puts the whole country at risk. Because the desert has almost a perpetual growing season, everywhere else is out of business or at least sustainable business.

asdff 4y ago

The U.S. is too bought into security theaterism for this to happen. The border especially the southern border should feel like a state border. Border towns already have probably half their commuters playing this stupid "heres my papers sir" fascist border crossing game to go work their retail job in El Paso or wherever. It's a performance for politics at the end of the day which means its not going away any time soon as long as it continues to have political utility. San diego transit would run into TJ if this world had any logic, but instead you exit the train from san diego a few feet from the border and have to cross by foot into tj, because security theater. Meanwhile the cartel just reacts by opening more labs and grow operations stateside or digging tunnels themselves instead of having their business be at all affected by this security theater.

thrwawy74 4y ago
While I do understand 'security theater' and think we could do better, I have to wonder what it's like crossing from an EU country to a non-EU country. People abroad look at our border crossings and react strongly, but I think most of the time they're going from France to Germany (example). I'd love to see tunnels like this for easy transit that doesn't waste surface area/acreage.

BurningFrog 4y ago

This would be great for vampires. Also incredibly expensive.

bigiain 4y ago

> but I wish we had coast-to-coast and Mexico-to-Canada tunnels Like the Alameda-Weehawken burrito tunnel? https://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_tunnel.htm https://idlewords.com/2007/04/the_alameda_weehawken_burrito_...

epicureanideal 4y ago
It would be great to have a global version of this for some extremely quick delivery of goods from the other side of the world. Obviously with a price to match.
calderwoodra 4y ago
I believed this thing existed for a non-trivial amount of time