Nearly 90 percent of the population of the United States lives in 250 urban areas. Yet despite this fact, transportation systems have failed to adequately serve these urban areas. In recent decades, expressways have been built and roads widened, but the ubiquitous congestion and gridlock continues unabated. A second problem lies in moving freight across the country efficiently.

According to the Federal Highway Commission, the volume of freight is predicted to grow 45 percent from its current number to 29 billion tons annually by 2040. However, this predicted growth will be hampered by a shortage of drivers to move freight as existing drivers are aging and few millennials are slated to replace them. The current suggestions to alleviate this shortage of drivers – expanded trailer sizes, increased vehicle length, increased weight restrictions, and truck platooning – all present safety concerns. A third related problem is that of vehicular pollution. Converting freight vehicles to battery-powered engines has been suggested as a means of alleviating the heavy dependence on petroleum. However, that would add thousands of pounds of weight to the vehicle and would result in lowered efficiency and a direct reduction in cargo capacity.

The solution to the traffic congestion and freight problems is the Overland Automated Transportation System. This dual-mode system of transportation consists of a six-foot-wide elevated skyway with a maximum capacity equivalent to 12 lanes of interstate highway as well as compatible vehicles. These vehicles will seamlessly enter and exit the skyway at interchanges spaced about one mile apart. This system, with its ultra-compact footprint, will form the nucleus of a comprehensive mobility solution to the significant problems currently plaguing transportation systems in the United States. It will also serve as a means of unifying all of the solutions that have been proposed at the federal, state, and local levels – solutions that have so far failed to alleviate the congestion and gridlock.

The elevated high-speed Overland Skyway will be integrated into the local arterial and street grids, creating a dual-mode system. This technology will involve laying out an elevated urban skyway network above existing arterials. The skyways in this network will be spaced about one mile apart with convergent and parallel on/off ramps serving as entry and exit points. As the miles of skyway expand, most travelers will require the use of both modes - the elevated skyway and the local streets.

All Overland vehicles will be securely attached to the skyway by a "saddle" directly underneath the center of the vehicle. This saddle will wrap around the electrified security rail to conduct electric power from the rail to the vehicle and is the primary sensor and direct communication interface between each vehicle and the infrastructure operating controls.

There are several advantages to the Overland Automated Transportation System. First and foremost, it will serve to alleviate the massive traffic congestion that plagues American cities today. Further, the skyway will provide real-time electricity to both passenger and freight vehicles so that their batteries are charged as they move along the skyway. This simultaneous charging reduces the cost of electricity because it arrives on a high-voltage transmission line inside the skyway, and thus no electricity is lost to charging and discharging the batteries.

This Overland intra- and inter-urban network will offer ride sharing, trip rental, hourly leasing, and private vehicle ownership as well as expedite same day and overnight delivery systems. Lastly, because numerous transportation and feasiblity studies have already been completed and have received environmental approval, the Overland system can be immediately implemented to deliver better services and greater revenue at a more affordable cost.

Does Overland ATS use magnetic levitation (mag lev)?

Overland ATS does not use magnetic levitation for several reasons. Magnetic levitation would require each vehicle to have a second vehicle propulsion system, might not always support the concentrated loads, and mag lev is most effective at much higher speeds.  Magnetic levitation has been very successfully used in a high speed train between Osaka and Tokyo in Japan.  There is no published information as to operating efficiency.  It was very costly to build, but it carries millions of passengers per year.

Does Overland ATS use clean or renewable energy?

Overland would arrange to purchase electricity directly from dedicated renewable energy sources with the most efficient facilities for generating renewable energy.  It is better for Overland to do what it does best and for the solar, wind, hydro kinetic, and other renewable energy source suppliers do what they do best.

How pollution-free are Overland ATS vehicles compared to battery powered electric vehicles?

Overland vehicles operating on the Overland Skyway have zero pollution output because Overland vehicles receive electricity directly from the skyway. No batteries are involved.

Battery powered electric vehicles of all makes and models create life cycle pollution comparable to or greater than petroleum fueled internal combustion engines. This is the reason why battery consumption cost per mile is comparable to or greater than the cost per mile of gasoline.

Batteries make up 25% to 35% of the total weight of a battery powered vehicle. This is weight a purely electric operating Overland vehicle does not carry. Battery powered vehicles also slow down, lose power, and are much more costly to operate in cold weather.  Overland vehicles on a skyway are not affected by cold or extreme cold climate conditions.

Why are Overland vehicles built structurally stronger than conventional mass produced vehicles?

In a vehicle, the chassis provides structural strength to the entire vehicle.  Overland vehicles travelling 150 MPH on a skyway are centered up along a central control beam.  The vehicles are travelling in actual physical contact, bumper to bumper.  The Overland Command & Control center is tracking and routing every moving vehicle in an urban area, or along an interstate highway.  This makes it easy to place large vehicles at the front of vehicle platoons for aerodynamic efficiency and to plan spacing.

This means Overland vehicle chassis can be different than the “H” chassis of conventional vehicles.  The Overland vehicle has a steel beam along the center of the vehicle from front to back.  The vehicle cannot be crushed along its length.  Each vehicle has a convex two foot retractable 40 MPH front bumper and a matching concave two foot retractable 40 MPH rear bumper.  Front and rear bumpers interlock when travelling in platoons. These bumpers will not fall off when bumped at 3 MPH as on many present vehicles.

The Overland vehicle has a sensory saddle that passes through the center of this steel beam and wraps around a steel beam flange in the skyway.  The saddle is ALWAYS attached to the flange even when a vehicle is transferring from one skyway to an adjacent skyway.  There is no instant when each vehicle is not secured to the skyway.

The Overland chassis is strengthened with a continuous running board perimeter beam all around the vehicle. This reinforces the bottom edge of the gull wing doors and supports the outside end of vehicle axles.  The running board is reinforced against the center beam on both sides of the vehicle.

The Overland ATS transportation system is designed to end urban traffic congestion and gridlock, and to provide an elevated interstate highway that has the equivalent capacity of 12 highway lanes, but what was the real motivation for dedicating so many years and personal resources into developing Overland ATS against such odds?

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There have been many other opportunities and several inventions patented that would have been much easier to develop.  In the 1950’s over 50,000 Americans lost their lives on highways EACH YEAR, several million more people were permanently disfigured, dismembered or paralyzed each year. Today, thanks to many safety improvements, fatalities are down to 38,300 per year with 4.4 million additional injuries and $412.1 billion in damages in the United States. Worldwide there are 1.3 million traffic fatalities because now cars are everywhere.

A transportation system had to be developed that had no fatalities. This required decades of analysis. A set of operating requirements had to be developed.  For example, on the present Overland Skyway there is no way for a person, child, or pet to walk in front of or behind a vehicle.  That is why vehicles use gull wing doors. This is not an essential operating requirement, but it is when safety is a priority. The process of a vehicle changing from one skyway to another was more difficult because the skyway could have no moving parts and a vehicle had to remain locked on to the skyway during the entire process. This was a safety issue, not a system issue.

The system has to be elevated so it is a hazard to no one. Does that make it cost more?  Maybe just a little bit. However, it will last two to three times as long, be easier to maintain, and invulnerable to many weather conditions.

What is the advantage of real time electricity supply over battery powered cars?

Real time electricity supplied directly from the skyway costs only 15% to 30% as much to operate per mile because there is no battery consumption cost as with current battery powered vehicles. 

What are some of the additional safety and operating benefits of dual mode vehicles operating on Overland Skyways?

Vehicles travelling 150 MPH on an Overland Skyway cannot be crushed, blown off by straight line winds, hurricanes, ripped off or apart by tornados, washed away in flash floods, blinded by blizzards, slowed down or power drained by extreme cold weather, will not slide on black ice, are safe in a power failure, and cannot be jeopardized by cyber-attacks.  The infrastructure does not block intersections, is harmless to pets and pedestrians, needs no bridges to cross most creeks, lakes, swamps, rivers, roads, does not disrupt drainage, can pass through mountains without destroying the eco system, reduces the impact of climate change.  High voltage electricity transmission lines, large fibre optic pipes, and related communications or cable utilities are all protected inside the steel skyway, from wind, ice, lightning strikes, sabotage and EMP attacks.  The infrastructure can evacuate 26,000 standard vehicles per hour per skyway at 150 MPH in adverse weather conditions to escape a natural or man-made hazard.

What is the advantage of Overland vehicles using bimodal wheels?

Bimodal wheels allow vehicles to operate safely at high speeds of 150 MPH or more.  Steel flanges against steel rails provides positive steering (Overland vehicles have two steering systems).  On the skyway steel wheels on steel rails have 14 to 17 times less rolling resistance than conventional pneumatic wheels.  Dozens of such energy and resource conservation features are built into the system.

What is a bimodal wheel?

Bimodal wheels must be used for vehicles that want to travel on both the skyway and on conventional roads.  A bimodal wheel can be thought of as a conventional vehicle wheel with the hub cap replaced with a flanged wheel.

How many miles per day can an unmanned Heavy Freight Transport travel?

An unmanned heavy freight transport could travel up to 3,600 miles NON-STOP with existing technology.  A single driver in a manual driven tractor trailer can legally drive only about 500 miles per day.

Are the dual mode vehicles on the Overland Skyway SELF DRIVING or AUTONOMOUS?

Dual mode vehicles while on the skyway are being driven by the Overland Command & Control Center, they are neither self-driving nor autonomous.   Individual vehicles gather and exchange information with each other and the skyway to which each vehicle responds appropriately, but  Command & Control is monitoring and controlling the system.  For this reason, vehicles, while on the skyway, will be fully insured by the Command & Control operator.  Off the skyway vehicles may be manually or autonomously operated.

Which is the most significant part of the Overland ATS? Is it the infrastructure or the dual mode vehicles?

The first and most essential feature of the system is that it is DUAL MODE.  Without dual mode there is no Overland ATS and there is no solution.

The INFRASTRUCTURE is the vital part of Overland ATS. The infrastructure provides many important benefits but the primary feature is that a single 6 foot wide lane infrastructure has the capacity of 12 to 13 eleven foot wide lanes of interstate highway.

Increasing capacity of this magnitude requires certain capabilities. Vehicles must travel faster, cannot stop, cannot slow down, must travel in bumper to bumper platoons, there must be programmed in slack, vehicles must be able to get on and off without interfering with other vehicles, the infrastructure must be elevated, the infrastructure must be continuous. Skyways must never completely converge.

Ultimately the Overland ATS supplements and eventually replaces highways completely. Autonomous vehicles driving on roadways are safe inside the urban environment at speeds up to 45 MPH maximum.  Above 45 MPH the vehicles must get on the elevated skyway where every vehicle is constrained within a positive physical operating environment. Above 45 MPH the Overland Skyway is required with or without autonomous vehicles.