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Australia has there system of 'road trains' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXL9UfP6FMk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXL9UfP6FMk. They use these because they
by aurizon 3y ago
Australia has there system of 'road trains' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXL9UfP6FMk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXL9UfP6FMk. They use these because they have very long sections of highway that are suitable. The USA has a smaller length version used on the controlled access interstates, with the same hookup as tractor trailers, with the trains broken down to 1 or 2 trailers for local delivery(usually the third one is shorter and is called a 'pup' trailer. Very common in gasoline/oil delivery.
On larger flat areas, with automobiles forbidden, it would be quite doable to have longer trains, with the hauling force/strength suited to the grade. We already do this with piggybacked trailers on flatbedded rail cars, some of which can have side load/unload of trailers for granular load access at stretches to avoid having to unload them all to get at one. Railyards do this via switching 'hump-yards' where long trains are distributed car by car. Here is one in operation, usually the hump has enough height to allow gravity sorting and there are numerous remotely operated switches where a long load of 100-200 cars is sent over the hump one at a time and assembled into trains of cars on diverse lines for other geographic destinations, with some send directly for local delivery, both as unit containers to be picked of by special top/bottom/side lift fork lifts(locked load type).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0CUtE5-kKQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0CUtE5-kKQ
I can see that this would allow integration with road trains, as methods evolve.
I saw several posts that spoke about the ground level interaction of bicycle traffic and car traffic being dangerous to bicycle traffic. Years ago we had elevated railways, that came to be unsightly, but functional ways to mix subways(elways) - it made me think that elevated bike-ways might work to reduce bike/car interactions. Bikes are so much lighter in weight that a suspended bike 'mono-road' would work well, it could even be roofed against weather. It has been done in a few places, and seems to work.
https://www.google.com/search?q=bicycle+elevated+path&sca_esv=598422524&rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA924CA924&tbm=vid&sxsrf=ACQVn08F-BF3AmyfQkh4_-yZ3kkJF6-SwQ:1705258093663&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiR8bC3xd2DAxWHMzQIHVbZBvUQ_AUoA3oECAMQBQ&biw=1378&bih=711&dpr=1.22 https://www.google.com/search?q=bicycle+elevated+path&sca_es...