US Infrastructure

[Kane]

[Saz]

[John Galt]

[exploited]

Tiny houses are cool :/

[exploited]

[Saz]

[Saz]

[exploited]

If you want to think long-term, Saz brought up automated cars. Part of what makes them so awesome is the massive savings we'll see in terms of infrastructure, enforcement, etc.

Because you don't have to deal with the variable driving habits of millions of people, everything will cost drastically less. The infrastructure itself will be cheaper because you won't be dealing with aggressive driving habits, tons of unnecessary braking, the need for constant signs, etc. Everything will be talking on a network, and consequently, emergency response will be able to get to stuff quicker, there will need to be drastically less law enforcement, and we can stop clogging the courts with traffic tickets and that kind of shit. Look at the cost of drunk driving laws! Obsolete.

If you really want to fix infrastructure, make universal, "free" high-speed internet a thing across America. Lay fiber down every highway and use tolls to pay for it.

[John Galt]

you could have wifi most everywhere, under a national system, free to use. and i do think "giving it away", as in, paid by taxes, would be a brilliant idea. we already do it for roads, why not instead have all the data free, and have physical transport cost money? with the data everywhere we'd be able to find problems (like crashes) immediately and be able to divert traffic much more effectively when needed. add in automated cars and it would all work together beautifully. everyone would have to get their own devices to connect but once connected it would be a massive boon for the economy. the north american electric reliability corp oversees all american and canadian power lines, and some mexican. something similar would have some sort of oversight for all the fiber lines, with individual companies managing things at a local level, only difference would be that we'd operate it more like well, toll-less roads are today, with government paying the bills. the cost of being digitally connected is then instead transferred to the cost of being physically connected with the freedom of car travel

of course... at this point telecomm would be 100% against removing all competitors. but they could still compete for the government contracts

[exploited]

Another thing to consider is the peripheral benefits. Who lays down capital along highways? Manufacturers, service industries, etc. This would immediately provide a significant boost to the economic viability of all major transport routes in the US, and that includes small towns and many rural communities. Anyone along the highway can link into the federal network on their own dime.