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Re:What are those dents in I-90 outside Seattle? by WalterBright on Saturday December 31, 2022 @01:47AM (#34194288)
> People make the assumption that the roads aren’t designed with truck travel in mind methinks.

Fatigue damage is the biggest problem. A heavy truck pushes down on the asphalt/concrete, flexing it. Eventually, it cracks and crumbles away. As mentioned elsewhere, fatigue damage goes up as the 4th power of the load.

Railroad tracks are made of steel, and steel flexes nicely without crumbling away. If you stand next to the tracks, you can feel the earth go down as the wheels pass. Steel rails with the load spread out with ties are an effective solution.

Re:What are those dents in I-90 outside Seattle? by UncleEntity on Saturday December 31, 2022 @02:16AM (#34194383)
The main issue, I think, is the entire economy would have to be changed on a massive, global scale.

I had this job 20 ago delivering for one of the major grocery chains. Southern Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona were all covered out of a single warehouse in Phoenix. That place is a shitshow and that’s with them having a couple hundred docks to unload trucks, lucky to get out of there in seven hours. If they were unloading train cars I couldn’t even imagine how bad it would be. Or the local drivers wasting a whole shift after getting a container out of the train yard.

Re:What are those dents in I-90 outside Seattle? by sfpotter on Saturday December 31, 2022 @12:36PM (#34198636)
Unloading trains is actually very efficient. If you have a train yard with many trains lined up next to each other and with box cars aligned, you can easily carry goods from train to train, through the box cars. This is far more space efficient than the huge parking lot which is needed to accommodate the wide turns that trucks have to make in order back up to a delivery zone.

I also don't see why it would be necessary to revamp the global economy to start using trains more.

Re:What are those dents in I-90 outside Seattle? by WalterBright on Saturday December 31, 2022 @01:07PM (#34198973)
It isn't necessary to revamp the entire economy. Things can be done one line at a time. All that's necessary is realigning cost and tax incentives so the costs reflect the actual cost (including externalities like pollution) rather than the grossly distorted subsidy system we currently have. The rest will take care of itself.