I think everyone would agree that traffic congestion in metro Atlanta is so complex that it will need multiple options to make significant reductions in travel time. The existing and under construction toll lanes, bus rapid transit and other public transit, staggered work hours, car pools and a host of other ideas will work in concert if our metro area is to stave off gridlock.
So I found what I thought was a new idea from Benita Dodd over at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation only to discover it was actually conceived in 2000.
“Fifteen years ago, the Foundation published a paper proposing SyncTrans, a system with “small family-sized cars that travel non-stop on an elevated guideway between stations. The quiet, electric-powered system and its cars require no drivers and can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The elevated guideways are cost effective and can be erected quickly. Since the system is fully automated, labor costs are minimal.”
Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But at this point we need every idea to get a fair hearing if we are ever going to work out of the morass that being a successful, desirable site has wrought. After all Dick Tracey’s wristwatch was a fantasy years ago and now we are working on the 2nd and 3rd generation of that technology. For more on this Jetsonesque concept read the full article.