Road structure – process – or apparatus – Road system
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-03
2001-11-06
Bagnell, David (Department: 3673)
Road structure, process, or apparatus
Road system
Reexamination Certificate
active
06312187
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a street tunnel arrangement accessible to vehicles in densely populated areas, and more particularly to a plurality of tunnels accessible from a ring street at the periphery of the densely populated area.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is estimated that traffic in Europe will continue to significantly increase during the next approximately 10 years and that the traffic in threshold and developing countries will continue to significantly increase during the next approximately 30 years. The largest increase in traffic will occur in the so-called megacities, that is metropolitan and densely populated areas with many millions of inhabitants. Independent of the public transportation systems, in particular the local public people-moving systems in such cities, the existing inner city streets will no longer be able to handle this increase in traffic. Also a substantial shift of the public to the local public people-moving system is not plausible, not only because of a lack of acceptance, but also because the local public people-moving systems do not have the capacity to absorb an additional large portion of the public.
Therefore, the purpose exists to develop a concept to solve the traffic problems in densely populated areas and megacities.
The solution of the invention for traffic problems of megacities is based on the city or the densely populated area scientifically moving traffic underground through tunnels. These tunnels lie far enough underneath the surface of the earth that they are no longer within the area of the public utility services and the subway. A depth of 30 to 50 m is sufficient for this in most cases. The tunnels are constructed in a conventional manner. The problems arising hereby, for example, the support of the weight of the ground, drainage of ground water, and ventilation, have already been solved in the field of tunnel construction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The drawbacks and problems associated with traffic in densely populated areas are believed overcome by providing a plurality of street tunnels arranged within a ring street. Parking houses or parking garages are developed according to the invention adjacent this underground tunnel system, namely at strategically important points under the city center. Access devices like elevators or steps for persons and goods lead from these parking houses to the surface. The parking houses exist preferably at junction points of the above-ground people-moving systems in order to enable a direct change to the local and long-distance transportation systems. Furthermore, the parking houses are intended to provide direct access to important office buildings, governmental buildings, shopping centers and other inner-city areas, which must be reached daily by many people. In as far as parking houses and access devices to the surface cannot be provided at all desired points, the important in-nercity areas must at any rate be quickly accessible by foot.
Part of the concept of the invention is also to feed the traffic coming from outside the city into the tunnel system. This is done by the ring street surrounding the densely populated area or the city, which ring street can be provided above ground or even underground within a ring tunnel and is connected through feed tunnels to the inner tunnel system. Instead of a ring tunnel or a ring street it is also possible to provide several ring streets at various distances from the center of the densely populated area. These can also be connected directly to a by-pass road or a by-pass ring.
As a result the inner-city motor-vehicle passenger traffic is removed from the existing, above-ground city streets and is shifted underground. The above-ground city streets are only needed for special traffic tasks, for example, special deliveries, fire department uses, etc. The above-ground streets are otherwise blocked to individual vehicles or can be travelled only by special permit. The long-distance and through traffic is directed in a conventional manner through large, above-ground ring roads around the city or the densely populated area.
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Scientific American, vol. XCVL—No. 25, pp. 505 and 510, Jun. 1907.*
Patent Abstracts of Japan; vol. 17/No. 181; JP 4-336102, dated Nov. 24, 1992 (1 page).
Bagnell David
Hartmann Gary S.
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