The Chinese Motorcycle

[Mortblanc]

There is another phantasy that is spoken about often, the deuteriation of roads and the road network.

It might not be common over there, but over here were have thousands of miles of abandoned roads that were bypassed and taken off the maps or reduced to secondary status when our "interstate highway system" was built and bypassed them. Many of these stretches are fenced off and inaccessible. Other sections are still in limited use as access and right of ways into private property. Some of these roads have been abandoned and unmaintained for 50 years, and they are still there, still drivable except for the encroaching vegetation on the edges.

My own little lane was just resurfaced two years back. The long term neighbors said that was the first resurface since the road was paved 30 years ago. It took a pounding too, but it was still usable though not properly maintained for 30 years.

I have lived for decades in areas where the roads had been built while I was a teen and have not needed resurfacing for 40-50 years.

Reduced traffic would actually preserve the road net, not speed its evaporation. The shattered roads you see in today's world are due to pounding hard use, not from decay of disuse.

The point is that the roads will be here for generations after we are gone. They will not dissolve into powder just because someone would like a return to the middle ages or Middle Earth. They will be usable for any that can find fuel and an operating vehicle. Or, perish the thought, a bicycle!