^ I believe the Rokito's restaurant structure (or the one next to it) along Wilson has been reduced to rubble now, so it seems work has begun.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
I certainly hope requirements don't increase in the future. Containers have had the same dimensions for 50 years, standardization is the whole point. The cost of modifying bridges and overpasses across the U.S. would be colossal, in addition to the handling yards, massive container ships, etc.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
Given the tunnels NS has between here and the East Coast, a floating-girder viaduct in Chicago would be the least of its problems.
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Call it my Panamax anxiety. The Panama Canal's allowed dimensions were going out of date after several decades, and this interesting
NYT article outlines how shipping economics are driving evolution in sea cargo practically as fast as our smartphones are changing (nearly quadrupling the number of containers on the world's biggest ship in about 2 decades). Rail changes are orders of magnitude slower, given the hundreds or thousands of dimension-constrained points along a route to the coast, to be sure. But infrastructure we build now will still be operating in the 22nd Century.
Also I note how Indiana highways permit triple-tandem truck trailers, which must be rearranged into doubles just before entering Illinois (UPS does this at Hammond), and it makes me think that, analogously,
intra-Chicago rail (like along the belt railway, or between classification yards, or something) could theoretically be built to different, superior specs to make more efficient use of space, if it were at all economical. It's a little fanciful, but a hundred years is a long time.