Image by Yogma via Flickr

As you drive to work tomorrow, bemoaning the smog and thetraffic and the motorist ahead, going too fast or too slow in his big, gas‑guzzling monster or his small, mean, bone‑rattler; as you grumble about the freeway repairs that always seem to start during the rush‑hour; as you yawn and think about the problems ahead; spare a thought for the motorists in the frozen North East this winter season. Now is the time of the year when the collective population of the rust belt raises its eyes to the frozen heavens, casts one last look at the snowdrift covering its car, burst hoses and all, sets its family on its shoulders, and starts off for the promised land. Seriously, it’s known that the nationally televised Rose Parade, with its riot of colors, and its almost unfailingly good 

Of course, after the delirium of endless sunshine, laying back, and lying on the beach, the newcomer becomes acclimatized. California turns out to be an almost ungovernable state, and we’ve all been spoilt for a long time. . It’s only 60 degrees in the morning, and the Angelino has to wear a jacket. The sky is brown. The motorist ahead is going too fast or too slow in his big gas‑guzzler or his small bone‑shaker. The freeway is clogged as usual

‑ all these newcomers from New York or Chicago, who didn’t have the sense to arrive five years ago, before California became crowded and spoilt. The old newcomer shakes his head in disgust. “Why can’t we send

all these people back where they came from” he thinks.

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Have you ever really sat and wondered about the Highway traffic that we see out on the roads 365 days a year.  Some days more heavier then others, but there is always a constant flow about it, like an never ending flow of a stream through mountains.

I was driving to work today, and was fascinated by what I seen for a moment.  You know, some of us drive Highways every day almost, and have we ever really paid attention to the cars on the roads?  No we have not, as usually we are so busy running from here to there and rushing to get to one place or the other.  But we never really pay attention to what is going on around us, to get us to that other spot.

As I was driving, I happen to just be coming over a slight hill, and I could see the highway in front of me, downward a little and I was able to see a sight that just really caught my attention, and I wanted to share with you. 

When we move in and out of traffic, through the lanes, we really think nothing of it.  And this was so cool to see, the car as they were moving in and out of traffic, it was like a water ballet.  The smooth movement that they make in the water, without any sound, and they are in sequence, and this is what I seen of the cars on the highway in front of me.  And, it was just a really cool thing to see, and it made my mind have a sense of peace when I thought of the ballet, instead of stressing about the traffic and distance that I would be driving.

Here we are, part of this on going motion, and yet we do not see ourselves doing this and what it actually looks like from afar.  The cars seems to just move in a simple, even and uniform motion at one point.  And then it just seemed to fit into place,

Just wanted to share this, if you have ever seen something like this, you would understand.  If you have not, next time your in the passenger seat, take a look for a moment, what do you really see out there on the Highway…

I used to live in both Oakland and San Francisco, California, at different times in my life. Traffic flow on all the streets in those cities is continuous and the freeway traffic is near horrible–more people travel on some of those freeways in an hour than travel in some states in a month!

Sunday, April 29, 07, a tanker truck had a horrible accident and caused the collapse of 2 freeways! That is horrible and a bloody inconvenience. However, the time to inconvenient the travelers need not be more than 1-2 DAYS! While this sounds laughable, I will bring my perspective to this and challenge ANYONE to disprove my hypothesis!

Those of you under age 50 will probably not have ever heard of the “Fighting Seabees” but they were our World War 11 road engineers! They build roads, bridges and airstrips and probably other things. Some they built while under fire from the Japanese army and other times, they were fortunate and could take their time only fighting bugs and the heat.

In some circumstances, they were able to build runways of plain, hardened dirt in 1 day. Their bridges took a few days to a week! They did not need, of course, stress tests, governmental oversight or other REASONABLE safety measures or monitors. That was then and today is today.

HOWEVER

If a California National Guard engineering unit was directed to go to this curve in the road, they could set up a temporary lift and metal road way in 24 hours!

Let me further explain!

We have all seen fork lifts. We have seen different pieces of machinery that lift things in the air and hold them in the air. SUPPORT vehicles and support TRESSES can be built in hours that can temporarily hold almost unlimited weight!

In this case, we “ONLY “ need a lifting system with a temporary TRESS backup, to hold 2 sections of freeway! So, in my scenario, my metal roadways with walls which can be built in a few hours, is carried by truck to each site. We have the lift system lift the first TEMPORARY roadway steel piece into the air, and it becomes a detour 50 feet from where the freeway is broken. OUR detour just goes around the breech. We wind up with 2 detours. Two support systems but only one needs to be held in the air as one freeway is at ground level.

While the lift machine is holding this detour part of road for elevated freeway piece #1, a tress is below it giving it backup strength. This can be built in hours and delivered in hours and the freeway can be back to use with a detour on both levels tomorrow!