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Comment by 1235711 | Hacker News Reader

Ah yes Alberta where even roads don't work thanks to freeze thaw cycles. What a perfect start.

As I always comment on threads like these, one of the supposed benefits that make hyperloop cheaper than rail is lack of expansion joints. The tube floats axially except halfway between each station where it is fixed. There's only one sensible in between station (Red Deer), putting each section of tube at 75km. If steel and assuming -40C to +60C temperature range (taking a guess at the tube's temperature on a hot day), you need +/- 27m for thermal expansion at each station. This needs to somehow maintain a vacuum seal and is also where you are boarding people, presumably through airlocks. Sure, there could be solutions but I don't find it credible that the feasibility is higher than a train.

I recall better roads in Alberta than San Francisco + hwy 101 in bay area.

The thing about pavement in the Bay Area: it breaks all at once.

I remember this striking me suddenly, shortly after I moved out from the Midwest. I was sitting on a patio, idly tracing the cracks with my eyes, when a question sort of bubbled up: where did they come from? The ground never freezes.

Then it hit me: in this case, they came from 1989.

The highway should be an 8 lane freeway, however it is a 4 lane death trap. Anything to get more cars off this road.

Really? Last few times I've driven it I remember thinking how much milder (well, also boring) of an experience it was than driving the 401 in Ontario.

Now, in the heart of February with black ice everywhere, that's maybe a different story. But not sure more lanes would help.

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