Freedom Transit Automated Roadway
Traffic congestion relief and collision avoidance are two of five major benefits to building a nationwide network of elevated and automated roadways as each single protected lane has the same capacity as 7 lanes of freeway. The other benefits have to do with extending the range and speed of electric cars and reducing CO2 emission by powering transportation with solar electrical power.
The automated roadway is an elevated three lane, 37 ft wide structure intended to be build down the middle or to the side of existing roads. As a comparison the roadway should be no wider than an existing two lane freeway interchange lane. Shielding the roadway lanes from rain and snow is a roof covered by solar panels. The two outside lanes are used for normal travel one for each direction, with the center lane reserved for switched bidirectional maintenance or emergency travel. The roadway is built on columns fifteen to thirty feet above the ground. Constructed of factory built pre-stressed concrete sections and assembled on site, the roadway should install quickly and be relatively maintenance free. The construction process should have minimal impact on existing roadways and structures. The only ground preparation will be the footings for the support columns.
The automated roadway is an elevated three lane, 37 ft wide structure intended to be build down the middle or to the side of existing roads. As a comparison the roadway should be no wider than an existing two lane freeway interchange lane. Shielding the roadway lanes from rain and snow is a roof covered by solar panels. The two outside lanes are used for normal travel one for each direction, with the center lane reserved for switched bidirectional maintenance or emergency travel. The roadway is built on columns fifteen to thirty feet above the ground. Constructed of factory built pre-stressed concrete sections and assembled on site, the roadway should install quickly and be relatively maintenance free. The construction process should have minimal impact on existing roadways and structures. The only ground preparation will be the footings for the support columns.
Automation will speed the onsite assembly process with the pre-stressed concrete sections aligned and bolted together by machines. The roadway surface is composed of pre-stressed concrete roadway panels. Machines will also install the roadway surface panels and the power/signaling - steering guide rails. The roof and solar panels will be installed by robotic machines as well. The assembly and maintenance of the automated roadway will be fast with little interference to existing ground level roads.
Access to the automated roadways is controlled by stations. Stations provide control functions such as: vehicle acceptance checking, roadway speed and vehicle spacing signals, vehicle merge and exit control, and automated emergency detection and mitigation. As an example if an earthquake were to damage a section of the automated roadway, the failure would be detected, reported to upstream stations and all vehicles in the failed section would stop, and all other vehicles would exit or be rerouted automatically. Failure detection is done by loss of signals to vehicles and the previous stations. Loss of signal would cause a vehicle to auto stop, and would signal the previous station to exit or reroute all vehicles heading into the failure. A second failure check is created by a continuous laser alignment check designed to detect shifts in the roadway. Individual vehicle failure monitoring can also trigger the fail safe all vehicle stop and/or exit functions.
Stations also provide smart power grid functions for the solar and utility power conduits contained in the automated roadway structure. Stations manage the net solar and utility power usage by the vehicles on the roadway. Power usage is bill by each station for the vehicles under its control. Vehicles are billed for power packets of one minute durations by the station they are headed to. Trip totals are accumulated by each vehicle and by the system for each vehicle. The stations are the customer to the power utilities with each station utilizing net power metering.
Access to the automated roadways is controlled by stations. Stations provide control functions such as: vehicle acceptance checking, roadway speed and vehicle spacing signals, vehicle merge and exit control, and automated emergency detection and mitigation. As an example if an earthquake were to damage a section of the automated roadway, the failure would be detected, reported to upstream stations and all vehicles in the failed section would stop, and all other vehicles would exit or be rerouted automatically. Failure detection is done by loss of signals to vehicles and the previous stations. Loss of signal would cause a vehicle to auto stop, and would signal the previous station to exit or reroute all vehicles heading into the failure. A second failure check is created by a continuous laser alignment check designed to detect shifts in the roadway. Individual vehicle failure monitoring can also trigger the fail safe all vehicle stop and/or exit functions.
Stations also provide smart power grid functions for the solar and utility power conduits contained in the automated roadway structure. Stations manage the net solar and utility power usage by the vehicles on the roadway. Power usage is bill by each station for the vehicles under its control. Vehicles are billed for power packets of one minute durations by the station they are headed to. Trip totals are accumulated by each vehicle and by the system for each vehicle. The stations are the customer to the power utilities with each station utilizing net power metering.