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SRenI said, "The amount of energy used in building a highway or railway line, when depreciation over the life of the project is considered, is probably marginal compared to the energy used in operations."  I did not say anything about maintenance.It is true that energy is used to maintain a highway, or any infrastructure for that matter, including a railway line.  I have not researched the per passenger mile maintenance costs for the airlines (planes, airports, air navigation systems) and the railways nor the vehicle miles traveled for the highways.  Whether there is a significant difference in the unit cost, which would include energy, is problematic.  A high speed railway line, such as Amtrak's NEC, is maintenance intensive.  I would be surprised if the maintenance cost per passenger mile on the NEC is significantly lower than the per passenger mile charge for the airlines or vehicle mile traveled for the highways.  This would include the capitalized energy, which again would be a one off for the maintenance project, unless it is continuous maintenance such as snow removal.  In any case, it is probably a minor percentage of the energy consumed by the operating vehicles over the initial or extended life of the asset.  I believe that I said electronic guidance systems for selected highways are a possibility.  GM has tested the concept.  Of course, it is not ready for prime time, and it may never be, but to say it is a ridiculous notion puts one in the same league as those who said that powered flight was ridiculous.  And that would have been most people prior to 1903.  Wouldn't they be surprised to learn that today people can fly from Austin to Melbourne, Australia, for example, with more than 400 other people, in a little over 17 hours, with only one stop, at more than 35,000 feet, while having a glass of wine and enjoying a movie at their seat?  Or sleeping in a fully reclining bed if they can afford business or first class!  Airplanes have come a long way since the Wright brothers did their thing.  It is unlikely that anyone in 1903 could have seen how aviation would develop to the extent that it has today.  In 1966 the firm that I worked for on Wall Street bought its first IBM mainframe computer.  It replaced 825 NCR operators.  Today my laptop computer, which cost a tiny fraction of the cost of that mainframe, has more horsepower than it had.  No one would have believed it in 1966.If one believes that the technology development curve has peaked, then the notion that electronic guided highways are a possibility must seem unreasonable.  But I believe that we are not at the end of the technological developments but still close to the beginning.  So I am going with the dreamers.  Just like the ones who ignored the argument that powered flight and computers were not possible or feasible.
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