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u<br />
For some, commuting is a breeze,<br />
our countrywide survey showsfor<br />
many others it bites three<br />
solid weeks of time out<br />
of every year<br />
Lafayette, in California's Bay Area, has doubts<br />
about its proposed rapid-transit system, however:<br />
"Many homes will eventually have to be vacated<br />
for track and stations." But the planning engineers<br />
in this area say that a freeway system with<br />
the same peak-load capacity woula eat up four<br />
times as much land as the proposed rail system<br />
(1,360 acres as against 325), besides costing<br />
five times as much. A four-lane freeway occupies<br />
about 15 acres of ground per mile of road, not<br />
counting the extra space needed for interchanges<br />
and approaches. The city of San Francisco itself<br />
is thoroughly fed up with state-built freeways<br />
that have invaded its streets on huge elevated steel<br />
structures "while the shining city slept" and obstruct<br />
("deface" is the local word) the view of<br />
many historic structures.<br />
THE MOST PRACTICAL immediate relief for<br />
some of us appears to be in the direction of<br />
tax-supported rapid-transit radiating from the<br />
central city to suburban stations or the subsidizing<br />
of existing rail service where heavy local traffic<br />
to and from the city seems likely to continue.<br />
Elsewhere, especially where job locations are becoming<br />
widely scattered, the automobile will have<br />
to do the commuter hauling, along with buses.<br />
For the future, some highly interesting prospects<br />
are almost within reach. These eventually<br />
may bring about great changes. Engineers are<br />
working on an automated highway, on which cars<br />
can be electronically controlled to move at high<br />
speeds without driver attention till they arrive at<br />
the side roads leading to their destination. Increased<br />
use of water courses, with hydro-foa-type<br />
high-speed vehicles, is another improvement to<br />
come. Our Highland Park publisher reports that<br />
the Chicago & North Western is already selling a<br />
summertime ticket which provides a boat ride on<br />
the Chicago River to enable east-of-the-Loop<br />
commuters to reach the station pleasantly. Helicopters<br />
and short-take-off planes will be cheaper<br />
and facilities- for them more widely available.<br />
Upcoming, too, are ground-effect machines. They<br />
Continued on page] 1<br />
Suburbia Today. <strong>Jun</strong>e 1964 9