Looking up from underground, with our x-ray vision on, we see crisscrossing wires and conduits, pipes, subways, and bigger pipes.  It’s a very three dimensional macrocircuit.  Up above is the two dimensional surface, but down in the dirt we can go all three ways equally.  That’s the freedom underneath.  And that freedom gives the tunneling [...]

To visualize roadless communities roll your imagination back to before there were cars, or wagons, or even wheels.  People lived in gatherings of homes along streams, in clearings in the woods, and in villages perched on hillsides.  Those who have traveled to rustic areas can recall the quiet charm of such places.
Anthropologists tell us our [...]

The tunneling community knows what tunnels cost.  But, much more importantly, the tunneling community knows, or is in the best position to figure, what tunneling could cost if some of the constraints were changed.  The question being raised is: how cheap could tunneling be if the tunnelers had more say?
Some [...]

LightWay is a proposed system of roadways restricted to light, zero-carbon automobiles.  These cars would generally travel under completely automatic control on separate roads, mostly in tunnels.  At the beginning and end of any journey they would be driven on the streets like other cars.
Once a vehicle enters the LightWay system it would travel continuously, [...]

Compared to the Model T, today’s cars are complicated.  Excavators, loaders, rock drills, and TBMs are complicated.  Jet airplanes are evenmore complicated, and yet, perhaps paradoxically, more reliable.  Complexity has not and does not necessarily bring unreliability.  We must not be over impressed by the old tunneler’s aphorism, KISS – “Keep It Simple, Stupid”.  It’s [...]

Speed – As fast as possible, but not too fast. Drag and the energy required to overcome it go up with speed. The faster you go, the straighter the roadway must be or you’ll be thrown about. So, fast, but not too fast. Or, energy and roadway costs will be excessive.
Continuity – Get up to [...]