Why Peak Torque

that would be too complicated and costly, I think.

Also, on surface streets, I generally say that speeding is bad. However, the timing of lights has gotten bad in our area. Going down Mound rd at the speedlimit will now cause you to hit almost every light. You actually need to go 51mph instead of 45. So having a good light synching program is very important.

As for passanger cars, I have some posts. Comments are good too.

For commercial, I think Ford is doing some good stuff. Using GPS and computers to provide advice on good driving habbits. Provides target speeds to avoid stops etc.

Also, here’s an interesting document on transportation planning for the Appalachian region in the US–this link is to a page focusing on container-on-barge, but the page contains a link to a PDF with the overall planning document.

At the time, I thought the claim was probably true, but that the annual damage to road surface and roadbed from the heavier vehicle was probably many times that amount. As the above post says, the taxpayer foots that extra cost.

A little research indicated that there is in fact freight rail service from China to Europe at present, and there are apparently a couple of projects being considered for greatly enhanced capacity on various alternative routes. Seems to me this could be pretty signficant in several ways, including economic development in China in regions that are currently being bypassed. I wonder, though, if the European rail freight infrastructure is robust enough to handle greatly increased traffic…my perception is that the answer is “no” and the Euro rail development has focused perhaps too exclusively on the passenger segment—although river and canal freight does handle some of the kinds of traffic that would go by rail in the US.

Here’s a post on a new company that is working to recapture share for rail in the long-haul shipment of fruits and vegetables.