Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/185325
final word | by Kirk Landers Using highways to solve other problems A round the world, it is becoming passé to think of roads merely as foundations for travel by vehicle. In the Netherlands Eindhoven University of Technology recently unveiled a titanium oxide substance that, when sprinkled on the surface or a concrete pavement, is said to reduce nitrogen oxide pollution by an average of 19 percent daily. A spokesman for the project told a BBC reporter that, even though the treatment adds 50 percent to the cost of the pavement, he was sure the process would be popular because of the potential savings in health care it represented. Throughout Europe, engineers have also been seeking cost-efficient ways to capture solar heat from pavements and convert it to practical uses. The most popular concept involves circulating water through ducts embedded in the pavement. In the summer, cool water reduces pavement temperatures and the heated water is stored in deep reservoirs; in the winter, the warm water is circulated through the ducts to increase pavement temperatures and the cooled water is stored for use in the summer. Other variations on the concept use the heated water to warm buildings and cooled water to reduce summer temperatures in buildings. Still others employ solar power to de-ice bike lanes and make lane markers glow at night. Here in North America, an entire technology has evolved to use roads and parking lots for flood control and to protect sensitive environments from harmful elements in storm water runoff. These designs combine permeable pavements with permeable bases that are designed to function as per- colating beds. Pavements that protect and enhance the environment cost more than traditional pavements, but often less than a traditional pavement and traditional storm water management systems. They are far more space efficient than adding storm water runoff ditches and retention areas alongside the paved road or parking lot. While these experiments with road technology add to the cost of road construction, they offer the potential for other benefits. Not so with another class of emerging highway technology – revenue enhancement. Cash-strapped government agencies are turning to a variety of financial solutions that employ roads and highways to raise revenues. Traffic cameras have become widely used for automated enforcement of traffic-light violations, producing a bounty of fines for the sponsoring government and angry protests from victims who argue that the systems have nothing to do with safety and are merely an insidious form of taxation. Cities are now working with trafficcamera enforcement of speeding laws, with the same set of complaints from motorists and benefits for government. A recent trial in the debt-ridden city of Chicago yielded projections of "hundreds of millions of dollars" in potential revenues from such a system in its first year of implementation. The same trial revealed no projections about public safety. Revenue-enhancing technology may not be a panacea for governments. In Sweden, where cameras are used to assess congestion fees on motorists in Gothenburg and Stockholm, protesters have taken to shooting the cameras with paint-balls to take them out of commission. EW 74 October 2013 | EquipmentWorld.com EW1013_Final Word.indd 74 9/24/13 2:03 PM