The problem under your feet

iodoorclubmunich (49)in #news • 7 years ago (edited)

Every year, modern cars become more and more friendly to the environment .

The use of an electric motor, a focus on efficiency and the application of "green" materials in the creation of vehicles,- all these are trends in the recent years. But behind the fashion trends, there is a subtle, but very important fact: the huge damage to nature is caused by the infrastructure of road transport itself, i.e. roads.

Serious researchers are already thinking about the problems of roads and methods for solving them, and the Department of Transportation of the US publishes the entire multi-page studies on how roads harm the environment.

Since the start of the construction, roads damage the ecosystem:
they divide the natural habitats of animals, change the terrain and redraw the map of the movement of air currents, formed naturally for thousands of years.

After the construction is completed, when the first cars start running on the new road, it turns into a permanent source of soil, groundwater and air pollution.

Exhaust gases and technical fluids of cars, particles of worn tires and road surfaces, enter the ground with rainwater and dust. Exhaust gases contain more than 200 toxic substances, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, soot, aldehydes, lead compounds and other heavy metals.

The car in modern megacities is often in more comfortable conditions than а human being.

This is especially noticeable in the countries where the infrastructure is based on individual cars, for example, in the USA.

In big cities, the influence of roads is even greater:
the air temperature rises, ultraviolet radiation drops to 30%, visibility decreases, clouds and precipitation increase, air circulation changes.

In some places, where the problem of the roads' influence on the air temperature is the most acute, the ways how to reduce the damage is already seriously being considered: for example, in Los Angeles, a white street painting project is being tested.

Presumably, such measures will reduce the temperature in the city by 7 degrees Celsius or more, due to the fact that the white color reflects the sun's rays much better than the black one, which is traditional for paving.

It is curious, that even such a small reconsideration of the habitual approach to the infrastructure construction can bring tangible financial benefits: the authors of the project calculated that due to the repainting of roads, it will be possible to save about $ 100 million a year on the use of air conditioners.

Another aspect of the "road problem" that is very familiar to the townspeople is the seasonal maintenance of the motorway cover.

In winter, roads in cold regions are sprinkled with salt, and this harms not only cars that are exposed to corrosion much faster than normally. Sodium and chlorine ions enter the water and soil, which adversely affects the survival of animals and microorganisms. Salt from roads gets even into drinking water.

In the largest automobile market/country, the USA, 70 kilograms of road salt is accounted per inhabitant, and because of this in some regions, the norm of the sodium and chlorine ions content is exceeded by 2-3 times.

As a consequnce of using salt, even evergreen plants become red.

This is only a direct impact, which is easy to track and evaluate its damage.

But fuel consumption, transport wear and many other indirect factors depend on the quality of roads, which ultimately accumulate a harmful effect, like a snowball.

Even electric vehicles, designed to "green" the transport sector, now receive energy mainly from power plants that run on fossil fuels.

Many hidden and obvious problems are laid in the very idea of highways as a continuous covering on which the vehicle moves. Working in conjunction with a car, one of the most harmful vehicles for nature, the classic asphalt road imperceptibly, but constantly, pollutes the environment.

To reduce harm, the concept of transport infrastructure should be radically revised, and SkyWay has a ready solution.

Since the very beginning of the life cycle of the string infrastructure, the developers have taken care that it inflicts as little damage to the ecosystem as possible.

Land allocation for laying the supports is minimal, the roads themselves are on the second level and do not occupy fertile areas of the land.

The rolling stock of the string transport can work on clean electricity: the engineers provide the installation of special solar panels and wind generators.

The string rails do not require permanent repairs and do not create obstacles for wild animals.

The entire transport system is designed to interfere as little as possible in the natural environment, while at the same time, provides maximum comfort and efficiency.

P.S.

Within a year, Rod Hook, our Australian SkyWay partner, has returned to Minsk!

We remind you that the last time he visited the SkyWay office in March last year, accompanied by the representative of the National Agency for the Safety of Australian Railways.

The main purpose of the trip was to provide the opportunity for the high-ranking official to personally become acquainted with Yunitskiy's string transport technology for further coordination of the joint actions for its certification in Australia.

Then, the leaders of our project paid a visit to Australia in October 2017, during which a huge amount work was carried out to promote SkyWay in this country: Anatoliy Yunitskiy and Viktor Baburin held a number of important talks and presentations, the continuation of which was the current visit to Belarus of the Directors of the "SkyWay Transport Australia" company Rod Hook and Maree Wauchope.

In the interview, offered to your attention, our Australian guests are reporting about their activities over the past time, are talking about the purpose of the arrival at the Head Office and are sharing plans for the near future.

Looking ahead, we inform you that soon, they are coming again with very important and interested guests. In fact, most of the time spent by Rod and Maree in Minsk, was devoted to the preparation of that future VIPs' visit.

But the original source is a priority, and we are giving the floor to our guests!