[Vision2020] Cool!

[Ken]

On Wednesday 21 July 2010 09:46:06 Tom Hansen wrote:
> Probably the most awesome piece of engineering you will see this year . . .
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFE8nmKpmXY

Very interesting. Considering the rate at which northern Idaho highways have 
been being widened from goat trail status to actual modern, safely-passable 
highways, one wonders whether two-lane railroads could be built faster. 
Parallel dual tracks, with appropriate sidings for switching and other train 
management, from the Idaho-Canadian border to Moscow, Lewiston, and on down 
to Boise, would go a substantial way toward increasing economic activity 
between Canada and the port of Lewiston, and better integrating the economies 
and the cultures of northern and southern Idaho.

Were such railways in place now, there likely would be no need for Exxon to be 
asking for extraordinary permissions to move earth-destruction machinery 
through scenic Idaho. By the way, that thought does raise the question: "Why 
isn't Exxon asking to move its needed stuff by trans-Canada railway from 
Canada's eastern coast? Yes, Canadian passenger travel might be disrupted for 
a time, but Exxon could compensate for that, too.

No, I don't foresee Sandpoint being a bedroom community for University 
professors anytime soon, but were such a dual pairing of tracks and passenger 
service in place, there isn't a timing reason why that could not be the case.


Ken