Where would you begin to design a perfect road transportation system?

Here are characteristics ASI/ATS narrowed it down to.

In a perfect transportation system:

A) Vehicles travel non-stop at the fastest practical speed
B) Vehicles travel the shortest distance possible to a destination
C) Vehicles do not interfere with each others progress

A) How fast is fast enough?
Proponents of mass transit trains have made SPEED their whole selling point, promising regional travel at 265 to 300 plus miles per hour.

Are these speeds necessary, or even beneficial?

At such ground level speeds, friction, air resistance and fuel consumption increase dramatically. The SHRILL NOISE generated by these high-speed trains affects passengers and may become intolerable to people in the communities the trains travel through. Also, the time, distance and energy required to reach 265 mph speeds (and subsequently make passenger stops) makes high-speed trains impractical for local transportation access.

In the automated transportation system proposal by inventor Waldemar Kissel, maximum speed is 120 MPH. This is readily attainable, minimizes or eliminates the above problems, and is fast enough for regional travel in a large metropolitan area, for travel between cities and for travel across the continent. At 120 mph manual control is not feasible; vehicles must be controlled by the system. By inference, the system must then be automated to maintain control.

The automated system described here is for all levels of service. It also operates in local neighborhoods and "collector" roads leading to high speed roadways. In a neighborhood a speed of 20 mph is fast enough. On a collector road 55 mph is fast enough.

B) How straight is straight enough?
Remember the old geometry theorem, "The shortest distance between two points is a straight line?" In the PERFECT SYSTEM the way to OPTIMIZE the distance of travel between all points of origins and destinations is to design a MASTER GRID OVERLAY for the entire metropolitan area. This is discussed further in this presentation. Advanced Section

C) How will a Perfect Transportation System prevent vehicles from creating delays for other vehicles?
In the perfect transportation system there are no stoplights and no stop signs. There are no traffic jams and no gridlock.

SUMMARY OF A, B, & C
Combining A, B, and C the conclusion is that in a perfect transportation system a vehicle shall travel non-stop at constant maximum velocity of 20 mph, 55 mph and 120 mph from origin to destination over the most direct route possible.

These three CRITERIA are the Minimum Performance Requirements for a perfect all-purpose local, regional, and national land-based transportation system. Logically there can only be "One Perfect Solution."

In addition to the primary requirements for a perfect system there are other considerations presented here as system characteristics.

The SYSTEM must operate at 100 percent performance efficiency at all times including when loaded to full capacity. In contrast, the conventional highway becomes less efficient as it reaches capacity, until at full capacity it has an efficiency of zero percent.

The SYSTEM must operate at full performance under all climate conditions, including snow, rain, fog, mud, lightning, ice, and hurricane force winds. During the evacuation of Florida’s West Coast in 2004 during Hurricane Charley, vehicles were slowed to ten miles per hour, and evacuation from cities by individual vehicles required many hours. The Automated System would have been able to evacuate vehicles at full capacity on each eastbound automated lane at a velocity of 120 MPH. The SYSTEM would have continued to operate throughout the hurricane as long as falling trees or flying debris did not obstruct the roadways.

The SYSTEM must provide some significant protection against earthquakes. Advanced Section

The SYSTEM must be SAFE, CONVENIENT, RELIABLE, OPERATIONALLY EFFICIENT, ECONOMICAL, ENERGY EFFICIENT and ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY.
Intermediate Section

The SYSTEM must provide for private vehicle ownership, for hire-per-trip such as cab service, mass transit similar to a bus, freight movement across land, train service equivalent, and for local delivery services with unmanned vehicles. These requirements are explored in this presentation, with more technical details in the Intermediate Section

The AUTOMATED SYSTEM VEHICLES need to be able to operate on conventional streets where no automated system roadways are in place for automated vehicles.
Advanced Section

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