Quote:
Originally Posted by rmay635703
Agree there, roads wouldn't have to be fixed every year if we could get most of the semis off the road, why we move freight via semi from CA to NY makes no sense to me.
Not to mention why all freight must get delivered instantly, perhaps time to nick that bad habit in the but and pace our lives a little slower now that unemployment is so high.
|
Unions and man power. At one point it was cheaper to drive (A friend of ours was a conductor/engineer and those guys were making 100k+ back in the 1990s vs 45K year for drivers (my dad was a local driver) plus the tree-huggers didn't like the smoke older diesel trains produced so many were taken off line. Lines became unusable and there were less trains to work.
As far as roads are concerned, It has to be a "mid-western" thing as the roads in TX, Kansas, etc. are AWESOME, florida, georgia good to go
The extreme cold, moisture and winters up here cause the issues. It gets hella cold, heaving occurs and that tears up the roads not to mention that wonderful sodium/magnesium chloride mix
great for paint jobs too.
Brazil nor did El Salvador have a lot of semis on the roads but their roads suck!
Truck traffic does take its toll but the trucking industry would take a massive hit w/ "get most of the semis off the road". It won't happen, never will.
1) Union is too strong.
2) The loss of driving jobs would cripple the economy horribly.
3) There are too many dock workers and truck drivers that couldn't pass the security clearances some rails require. I hear it's hard to get in.
Even then, freight still has to get moved locally. Can one even imagine how large the rail yards would have to increase if they just took 50% of the load? The man power wouldn't increase exponentially as there is a lot of automation but the room to store all the goods until it can be loaded onto a truck and the volume of truck traffic through the city centers where most are located
In all seriousness, Goggle rail yards in major cities and think if those folks want a 50% increase of trucks in and 50% out just through the limited roadways that are available. AND even w/ more roadways, you being from WI nows how long construction projects take. Hell, I've been here 5 years and the 62 hwy/I-35 interchange just is finished and it was several years in the making before that. The 494/169 interchange is 3 years in the making.
In El Paso, TX they finished a 23 mile stretch in under 7 years, 3 lanes wide in several places. Amarillo TX I-40 interchange through city center, 4 lanes n/s 3-4 lanes E-W, less than 2 years IIRC. San Antonio did a double decker in under 4 years through down town
Point being road work up here is very slow
even when the weather is good.
OP sorry for being off topic.