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Traffic Capacitors
Large mobile towers can be placed at various intersections to relieve extreme congestion. | |
The idea is to haul some sort of massive structure in
on
a giant helicopter and lay it down in the center of the
intersection. It causes the intersection to effectively turn
into an extra mile of road in any direction. Cars can travel
up
and down the tower, literally taking cars off the road
at
adjacent locations and
allowing for more efficient removal of nearby traffic jams.
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Annotation:
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Hands up! Who nicked [daseva]? |
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Why a tower? I'd think a tunnel would be more practical.
(Would have to be permanent, not portable, but that's no
problem if traffic patterns are predictable.) |
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Also: the drivers would hate this. An alternative would be a
"spare" lane that was closed off until needed. This would be
irritating as well, but not -- I'd think -- much more than HOV
lanes, or breakdown lanes. |
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I chose a tower as opposed to any other structures
(bridges, tunnels, etc.) because I wanted to work
within the smallest surface area possible to minimize
the effects on infrastructure. |
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Get a bigger helicopter then |
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After the tower fills up with cars, could the helicopter pull it out again and set it down in a pasture somewhere? I see a need for a fleet of these towers rotating in and out at key intersections everywhere. [Auto/Pedestrian] accidents down; [Auto/Farm Animal] accidents up. You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Bun! [+] |
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There are already traffic capacitors in London. Certain key traffic lights in London are controlled centrally by people looking at traffic cameras. When traffic is unusually heavy there are roads in which traffic can safely be 'stored' by adjusting the traffic light timings without it having a knock-on effect anywhere else. One such road is the northbound side of Park Lane. |
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<ee-pedant> I believe this should really be termed "Traffic Inductors," as the analogy to electronics would be storage of current, (flowing cars) not voltage. </ee-pedant> |
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Ive always thought cars should be ramp-shaped on all sides so other vehicles could drive straight over the top of them if they were in the way. |
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//Get a bigger helicopter then//
[marked-for-tagline] |
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What if those towers were shaped like DNA double helices? Then cars can drive up one helix and down the other. There need to be lots of places where they can cross over. When traffic is busy, they cross at the top; when traffic is slow, they cross at the bottom. It allows the structures to be permanent; no helicopters needed. :) |
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[pocmloc], you might like my "Level Rail Pseudo-Coaster" Idea. |
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Just came back to this and I really like [Vernon]'s idea of making them permanent by having path switching within the structure. |
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I think the only solution is to have car counters at the entrances and exits of the city, and only allow new cars into the city if there are less than say, 100,000 already in there. |
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