This Future Map Of The United States Is Way Cooler Than Any Current Map Of The United States

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9. Travel at 220 mph is only possible on roadbeds designed for high-speed passenger service

Freight rail moves at about 45 mph on roadbeds that have a very low grade, since a mile or more of very heavy bulk freight cars have to be towed by a few engines with traction wheels. Therefore, they have numerous curves of fairly tight radius in order to follow the terrain, often along meandering river valleys.

In contrast, high-speed rail cannot have tight curves, but it can have moderately steeper grades since the traction wheels are distributed among the several cars in a train set.

So the map shows the building of completely new roadbeds in some very uneconomical areas, both because the terrain is unfavorable and because the ridership is minimal in those areas. Examples include the stretch from Portland to Sacramento and from Talahassee to Houston. The first involves punching a new railroad through mountainous area and the second involves bridging numerous bayous and rivers with shipping channels that would require high elevations.

The map is a pipe dream.