The birth of the railways and their rapid spread across the world triggered economic growth and social change on an unprecedented scale. From Panama to the Punjab, Tasmania to Turin, Blood, Iron and Gold describes the vision and determination of the pioneers who developed railways that would link cities that had hitherto been isolated, and would one day span continents. Christian Wolmar reveals how the rise of the train stimulating daring feats of engineering, architectural innovation and the rapid movement of people and goods around the world. He shows how cultures were enriched - and destroyed - by the unrelenting construction and how the railways played a vital role in civil conflict, as well as in two world wars.

Speeding is defined as exceeding posted speed limits or driving too fast for conditions. This is a behaviour that some drivers engage in without recognising the risks or seriously considering the consequences. The most serious consequences of speeding are the fatalities and serious injuries that result from crashes. Over the last ten years, speeding has been consistently identified as a contributing factor in nearly one-third of all roadway fatalities nation-wide. Crashes involving speeding occur on all road types but are particularly prevalent on the local rural road system. This book provides information on how to develop a Speed Management Program that is tailored to meet the needs of local rural road practitioners. A Speed Management Program can be effective in lowering the number of speeding crashes and the resulting fatalities and serious injuries on local rural roads. Non-motorised modes of travel can also be expected along these roads. Non-motorised transportation is primarily comprised of biking, walking, equestrian, and horse-drawn vehicles but may also include other non-powered transportation devices. This book is also a guide to assist local rural road practitioners in making effective use of current practices and resources addressing non-motorised mobility and safety, thereby creating a more accommodating and viable transportation system for all road users.

Drive the streets of Nairobi and you are sure to see many matatus colorful minibuses that transport huge numbers of people around the city. Once ramshackle affairs held together with duct tape and wire, matatus today are name-brand vehicles maxed out with aftermarket detailing. They can be stately black or come in extravagant colors, sporting names, slogans, or entire tableaus, with airbrushed portraits of everyone from Kanye West to Barack Obama, of athletes, movie stars, or the most famous face of all: Jesus Christ. In this richly interdisciplinary book, Kenda Mutongi explores the history of the matatu from the 1960s to the present. As Mutongi shows, matatus offer a window onto many socioeconomic and political facets of late-twentieth-century Africa. In their diversity of idiosyncratic designs they express multiple and divergent aspects of Kenyan life including rapid urbanization, organized crime, entrepreneurship, social insecurity, the transition to democracy, chaos and congestion, popular culture, and many others at once embodying both Kenya's staggering social problems and the bright promises of its future. Offering a shining model of interdisciplinary analysis, Mutongi mixes historical, ethnographic, literary, linguistic, and economic approaches to tell the story of the matatu as a powerful expression of the entrepreneurial aesthetics of the postcolonial world.

Commercial vehicles such as tractor trailers and school buses must be operated by skilled drivers who are mentally and physically capable of performing their jobs safely. Prior Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) work has shown weaknesses in the Department of Transportation's (DOTs) oversight of Commercial Drivers License (CDL) holders, such as inadequate medical certifications for commercial drivers, which potentially put the public at risk. This book examines key controls designed to prevent medically unfit or impaired commercial drivers from operating commercial vehicles.

This book examines select aspects and the role of federal programs and policies for highway infrastructure. Issues discussed include the federal excise tax on gasoline and the Highway Trust Fund; the role of the Environmental Review Process in federally funded highway projects; the emergency relief program and federal-aid highway assistance for disaster-damaged roads and bridges; tolling of interstate highways; broadband telecommunications as vital for improving state and local systems for traffic management and public safety; revised federal standards for traffic signs; and a legislative history of federal aid to roads and highways since the 18th century.

The ultimate objective for the book is to be a useful tool to increase awareness surrounding the importance of the use and the proper adjustment of highly rated head restraints according to scientific evidence, highlight the benefits of various prevention strategies and discuss future directions in neck injury and whiplash prevention.

A critical era in California's history and development - the building of the first roads over the Sierra Nevada - is thoroughly and colorfully documented in Thomas Howard's fascinating book. During California's first two decades of statehood (1850-1870), the state was separated from the east coast by a sea journey of at least six weeks. Although Californians expected to be connected with the other states by railroad soon after the 1849 Gold Rush, almost twenty years elapsed before this occurred. Meanwhile, various overland road ventures were launched by 'emigrants', former gold miners, state government officials, the War Department, the Interior Department, local politicians, town businessmen, stagecoach operators, and other entrepreneurs whose alliances with one another were constantly shifting. The broad landscape of international affairs is also a part of Howard's story. Constructing roads and accumulating geographic information in the Sierra Nevada reflected Washington's interest in securing the vast western territories formerly held by others. In a remarkably short time the Sierra was transformed by vigorous exploration, road-promotion, and road-building. Ox-drawn wagons gave way to stagecoaches able to provide service as fine as any in the country. Howard effectively uses diaries, letters, newspaper stories, and official reports to recreate the human struggle and excitement involved in building the first trans-Sierra roads. Some of those roads have become modern highways used by thousands every day, while others are now only dim traces in the lonely backcountry.

An evocative and powerful portrait of America in transition, The End of the Line tells the story of what the 1988 closing of the Chrysler assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, meant to the people who lived in that company town. Since the early days of the twentieth century, Kenosha had forged its identity and politics around the interests of the auto industry. When nearly six thousand workers lost their jobs in the shutdown, the community faced not only a serious economic crisis but also a profound moral one. In this innovative study, Dudley describes the painful, often confusing process of change that residents of Kenosha, like the increasing number of Americans who are caught in the crossfire of deindustrialization, were forced to undergo. Through interviews with displaced autoworkers and Kenosha's community leaders, high-school counselors, and a rising class of upwardly mobile professionals, Dudley dramatizes the lessons Kenoshans drew from the plant shutdown. When economic forces intrude on our lives, the resulting changes in earning power, status, and access to opportunity affect our sense of who we are, what we are worth, the nature of the world we live in, and in particular, what it takes to succeed. Dudley examines how ideas about self-worth - especially those based on market ideologies of competition and the Darwinian notion that only the fittest survive - become the subject of intense cultural conflict. Dudley describes a community in conflict with itself: while Kenosha's autoworkers struggle to regain an economic foothold and make sense of their suddenly devalued place in society, white-collar workers, professionals, and a new wave of politicians see themselves at thevanguard of a new moral order that redefines community as a "culture of mind" instead of the traditional "culture of hands" long associated with the work of the assembly line. This honest, moving portrait of one town's radical shift from a manufacturing to a postindustrial economy will redefine the way Americans across class lines think about our families, communities, and future.

The bus system that came to be known as the Greyhound Bus Company was founded by Carl Eric Wickman, an enterprising Swede of Hibbing, Minnesota. The first bus was a seven-passenger Hupmobile touring car that was used to transport miners across the Mesaba Iron Range to and from work. Wickman was soon joined by another Swede, Andrew Anderson, and they began operating in earnest the route from a saloon in Hibbing to the fire-hall in Alice. From this lowly beginning grew the Greyhound Corporation, a multi-million dollar company which, through the years, has owned everything from a chain of hamburger restaurants to a soap company.

The immense, global transportation and logistics sector is vital to businesses of all types. This carefully-researched book covers exciting trends in supply chain and logistics management, transportation, just in time delivery, warehousing, distribution, intermodal shipment systems, airlines, trains, marine transport, courier services, logistics services, purchasing and advanced technologies such as RFID. This reference tool includes thorough market analysis as well as our highly respected trends analysis. It contains thousands of contacts for business and industry leaders, industry associations, Internet sites and other resources. This book also includes statistical tables, an industry glossary and thorough indexes. The corporate profiles section of the book includes our proprietary, in-depth profiles of the 500 leading companies, worldwide, in all facets of the transportation and logistics industry, including private and public firms. Here you'll find complete profiles of the hot companies that are making news today, the largest, most successful corporations in the business. You'll find a complete overview, industry analysis and market research report in one superb, value-priced package.

This book provides guidelines for the implementation of an adaptive lighting system for roadway lighting. Based on the analysis of crashes and lighting performance, a series of criteria and the associated design levels have been developed to provide an approach for light level selection and the adjustability of the light level based on the needs of the driving environment. The application, the technology needs, the benefit cost, the legal implications of adaptive lighting, as well as the data, the analysis, and the developed methodology are all considered in this book.

In this book, cargo securing in road transport using the restraining method with top-over lashing is presented. Cargo securing is the prevention of slipping and tipping of cargo forward, sideways and backwards, which is a consequence of hard braking, vehicle cornering in roundabout, vehicle changing lanes, high acceleration, etc. Usually, the friction alone between the cargo and the load platform bed does not guarantee that the cargo would not slip or tip in case of hard braking, vehicle cornering, vehicle changing lanes and high acceleration. In the case of hard braking, extremely large inertial force occurs, close to values of the 0.8g, which is also confirmed in this book. Also the resting moment of the cargo does not guarantee that cargo when vehicle cornering or vehicle changing lanes, would not tip from the load platform bed. For this purpose, it is necessary to protect the cargo with an additional force, which is called the pretension force. It has been found out that the pretension force depends on several factors, like lashing angle, coefficient of friction between the cargo and the load platform bed, geometrical and actual center of gravity, etc., which is analyzed and discussed in-depth in this book. The results of the analysis showed that the pretension force significantly depends on the friction coefficient when securing cargo against slipping and the center of gravity when securing cargo against tipping from the load platform bed. This book presents useful information in determining the required pretension force, which has a consequence in determining the necessary number of lashings for efficient cargo securing in road transport.

It is possible to eliminate death and serious injury from Canada's roads. In other jurisdictions, the European Union, centres in the United States, and at least one automotive company aim to achieve comparable results as early as 2020. In Canada, though, citizens must turn their thinking on its head and make road safety a national priority.

Since the motor vehicle first went into mass production, the driver has taken most of the blame for its failures. In a world where each person's safety is dependent on a system in which millions of drivers must drive perfectly over billions of hours behind the wheel, failure on a massive scale has been the result. When we neglect the central role of the motor vehicle as a dangerous consumer product, the result is one of the largest human-made means for physically assaulting human beings. It is time for Canadians to embrace internationally recognized ways of thinking and enter an era in which the motor vehicle by-product of human carnage is relegated to history.

"No Accident" examines problems related to road safety and makes recommendations for the way forward. Topics include types of drivers; human-related driving errors related to fatigue, speed, alcohol, and distraction and roads; pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit; road engineering; motor vehicle regulation; auto safety design; and collision-avoidance technologies such as radar and camera-based sensors on vehicles that prevent crashes. This multi-disciplinary study demystifies the world of road safety and provides a road map for the next twenty years. Includes a foreword by Ralph Nader.

A wide array of federal incentives support the development and deployment of alternatives to conventional fuels and engines in transportation. These incentives include tax deductions and credits for vehicle purchases and the installation of refuelling systems, federal grants for conversion of older vehicles to new technologies, mandates for the use of biofuels, and incentives for manufacturers to produce alternative vehicles. Many of the policy choices presented for alternative fuel and advanced vehicle technologies originated as a response to the nation's interest in reducing petroleum imports. This book examines the current array of incentives, which do not reflect a single, comprehensive strategy, but rather an aggregative approach to a range of discreet public policy issues, including improving environmental quality, expanding domestic manufacturing, and promoting agriculture and rural developments.

Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a monstrous single cell well known for its task-solving abilities - solves computational geometry and logical problems, navigates robots and generates music.The slime mould could also build motorways, highways and expressways. It is used to analyse transport networks of Africa, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Iberia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, UK and USA. The largest cities are represented by oat flakes and the slime mould is inoculated in a capital. When all oat flakes are covered by the slime mould, the structure of the protoplasmic networks formed are analyzed. In the laboratory experiments and theoretical analyses, intriguing country-specific properties of the motorway networks are uncovered and compared with the man-made and slime mould networks. They are studied as proximity graphs, leading to hierarchies of complexity and bio-rationality of the motorways.The book will inspire novel and original thoughts, paradigms and approaches for re-evaluation of historical findings on the emergence of ancient roads and will help to design future transcontinental pathways. The book is self-contained and does not require any special training or knowledge. This lavishly illustrated text will be appreciated by readers from all walks of life.

Organized under the Rapid Transit Act of 1875, the Manhattan Railway Company (commonly known as the Manhattan Elevated Railway, or the "el") dominated public transportation in late-nineteenth-century New York City. Its four lines extended the length of Manhattan Island into the Bronx, with 334 steam locomotives carrying 1,122 passenger cars over 102 miles of track. From 1880 to 1902, more passengers traveled the el than on any other rapid transit system in the world. Frank K. Hain was vice president and general manager of the company for 16 years, during which time he confronted union organizers, horrifying accidents, and a relentless media crusade for a conversion to electric power and the establishment of a subway system. Based on Hain's experiences, this chronicle of New York's elevated steam railways illuminates an important era in transportation.

From animal paths to superhighways, transportation has been the backbone of American expansion and growth. This examination of the interstate highway system in the United States, and the forces that shaped it, includes the introduction of the automobile, the Good Roads Movement, and the Lincoln Highway Association. It offers an analysis of state and federal road funding, modern road-building options, and the successes and failures of the current highway system.

Americans for years have treated the automobile as a form of freedom. People can now live in the country and work in the city. Suburbia and shopping malls were made possible by the automobile. And none of this would have been possible without huge legal and financial commitments made by all levels of government to expand America's interstate freeway systems, regional highways, expressways, arterials, commercial avenues, and residential streets. Our society now has a number of significant diseconomies associated with the individual use of the automobile. Traffic congestion and pollution in inner cities have led to a new wave of policies and practices to improve these conditions. The focus of public officials and citizens in most large urban centers is on public mass transportation, such as trains, light-rail systems, and the increased use of buses. In the interim, traffic management practices have increased in importance. This volume collects outstanding recent essays on all aspects of this complex subject. It includes numerous case studies on how cities, towns, and communities throughout the nation are managing the unrestricted use of the personal automobile. Other chapters discuss the future of urban transportation and examines evolving trends. Also included are appendices containing important information in the field.

Since the early 1990s, federal transportation laws have slowly started to level the playing field between highway and alternative transportation strategies, as well as between older and newer communities. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century made substantial changes in transportation practices. These laws devolved greater responsibility for planning and implementation to urban development organizations and introduced more flexibility in the spending of federal highway and transit funds. They also created a series of special programs to carry out important national objectives, and they tightened the linkages between transportation spending and issues such as metropolitan air quality. Taking the High Road examines the most pressing transportation challenges facing American cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas. The authors focus on the central issues in the ongoing debate and deliberations about the nation's transportation policy. They go beyond the federal debate, however, to lay out an agenda for reform that responds directly to those responsible for putting these policies into practice -leaders at the state, metropolitan, and local levels. This book presents public officials with options for reform. Hoping to build upon the progress and momentum of earlier transportation laws, it ensures a better understanding of the problems and provides policymakers, journalists, and the public with a comprehensive guide to the numerous issues that must be addressed. Topics include: A wide-ranging policy framework that addresses the reauthorization debate An examination of transportation finance and how it affects cities and suburbs An analysis of metropolitan decisionmaking in transportation The challenges of transportation access for working families and the elderly The problems of increasing traffic congestion and the lack of adequate alternatives Contributors include: Scott Bernstein (Center for Neighborhood Technology), Edward Biemborn (University of Wisconsin), Evelyn Blumenberg (UCLA), John Brennan (Cleveland State University), Anthony Downs (Brookings), Billie K. Geyer (Cleveland State), Edward W. Hill (Cleveland State), Arnold Howitt (Harvard University), Kevin E. O'Brien (Cleveland State), Ryan Prince (Brookings), Claudette Robey (Cleveland State), Sandra Rosenbloom (University of Arizona), Thomas Sanchez (Virginia Tech), Martin Wachs (University of California, Berkeley), and Margy Waller (Brookings).

The only significant road pricing scheme in the UK is that introduced by Ken Livingstone in London. But the technology now exists to develop a nationwide scheme of road user charging, with prices to road users varying with the level of congestion in a given area at a given time. The only obstacles to implementing road user charging would seem to be political. Stephen Glaister and Daniel Graham have used sophisticated geographical and economic modelling to examine the potential effects of different types of road user charging schemes. The results of the modelling are explained lucidly and clearly. Using the results of the authors' models, policymakers should be able to find an approach which is acceptable given the practical realities they face. The authors also look carefully at the implications of road user charging and identify other policy areas that policymakers would need to consider.

An examination of how the automobile has ravaged America's cities and landscape since the end of the 19th century together with a strategy for reversing their automobile dependency. The text provides a history of the rapid spread of the automobile and documents the huge subsidies commanded by the highway lobby, to the detriment of once-efficient forms of mass transportation. Demonstrating that there are economic, political, architectural and personal solutions to the problem, it shows that radical change is entirely possible.;The book should be of value to everyone interested in the history of America's relationship with the car, and in the prospect of returning to a world of human mobility.

To its critics, the automobile is a voracious consumer of irreplaceable energy resources, a leading polluter of the environment, and a destroyer of cohesive communities. The most outspoken opponents call for greater regulations and restrictions to ultimately replace the automobile as the country's primary means of transportation. But their proposals all ignore one simple fact: Americans love their cars Millions of citizens have made the automobile the most successful method of mass transportation ever developed, and they are not about to give up the personal mobility it offers. This book presents the controversial view that, for the vast majority of Americans, the automobile is not the problem, but the solution to transportation needs. While acknowledging the automobile's significant drawbacks, the author refutes much of the shrill rhetoric and doomsday predictions of its opponents. He takes a skeptical look at the major policy initiatives to tax, regulate, and provide alternatives to the automobile, pointing out that any policies designed to remove Americans from their cars without offering them a superior means of mobility are "worse than useless" and doomed to failure. The book offers suggestions and guidelines for politically realistic initiatives that preserve the benefits of the automobile while building public support for policies that will reduce its negative effects on energy use and the environment.

Peak-hour traffic congestion has become a major problem in most U.S. cities. In fact, a majority of residents in metropolitan and suburban areas consider congestion their most serious local problem. As citizens have become increasingly frustrated by repeated traffic delays that cost them money and waste time, congestion has become an important factor affecting local government policies in many parts of the nation. In this new book, Anthony Downs looks at the causes of worsening traffic congestion, especially in suburban areas, and considers the possible remedies. He analyzes the specific advantages and disadvantages of every major strategy that has been proposed to reduce congestion. In nontechnical language, he focuses on two central issues: the relationships between land-use and traffic flow in rapidly growing areas, and whether local policies can effectively reduce congestion or if more regional approaches are necessary. In rapidly growing parts of the country, congestion is worse than it was five or ten years ago. But Downs notes that the problem has apparently not yet become bad enough to stimulate effective responses. Neither government officials nor citizens seem willing to consider changing the behavior and public policies that cause congestion. To alleviate the problem, both groups must be prepared to make these fundamental changes. Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Book of 1992 Co-published with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

'This book provides a very good history of the Los Angeles experience. Urban sociologist, among others, will find it an important addition to their shelf on urban social change.' --James R. Hudson, Contemporary Sociology