01-07-2015, 03:05 PM
FYI: (*Snipped - More at link)
http://www.civilbeat.com/2015/01/hawaii-...lava-flow/
If the lava flow now threatening Pahoa Village on the Big Island eventually crosses Highway 130 and continues towards the ocean, residents of lower Puna could be isolated on the far side of the flow, with a 70-plus mile commute to reach Hilo for shopping or jobs via an emergency route along the Chain of Craters Road through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
It’s not a pretty prospect.
But Hilo attorney Steven Strauss has been quietly laying the groundwork for another innovative alternative.
Struass is definitely thinking outside the box. Or, in this case, above it.
He calls his solution the “Lava Ferry,” and says it would pick up passengers on one side of the flow and deposit them minutes later on the other side.
His scheme involves an airship that is a contemporary take on a Jules Verne lighter-than-air craft from the pages of vintage science fiction, updated with modern high-tech materials and computerized controls.
At first glance, it sounds most improbable.
But get Strauss talking and it’s quickly apparent that he’s done his homework.
As Strauss explains it, the Lava Ferry is sort of a mini-cable car system that will be able to carry around 25 passengers at a time up and over the lava, starting from the highway on one side of the flow, over to the the highway on the other side. The cable system would be anchored on each end by a 10-ton computerized winch, and supported in the center, safely above the lava, by a stationary, helium-filled airship. The whole system would work much like a ski lift, with the winches pulling the passenger gondola up the cable toward the airship, and then lowering it slowly down the cable to a landing on the far side of the flow.
Each trip is estimated to take just five minutes, allowing a many as 1,000 passengers to be ferried each day, Strauss said. He estimates local residents would have to pay $15 per trip, not insubstantial but potentially worth it when the time otherwise lost in the long commute and gasoline costs are taken into account.
Strauss estimates about 10 percent of affected Puna residents would use the Lava Ferry rather than take the long commute. The system would also be open to tourists, who would be charged twice the resident rate, or around $30 per person, Strauss said.
http://www.civilbeat.com/2015/01/hawaii-...lava-flow/
If the lava flow now threatening Pahoa Village on the Big Island eventually crosses Highway 130 and continues towards the ocean, residents of lower Puna could be isolated on the far side of the flow, with a 70-plus mile commute to reach Hilo for shopping or jobs via an emergency route along the Chain of Craters Road through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
It’s not a pretty prospect.
But Hilo attorney Steven Strauss has been quietly laying the groundwork for another innovative alternative.
Struass is definitely thinking outside the box. Or, in this case, above it.
He calls his solution the “Lava Ferry,” and says it would pick up passengers on one side of the flow and deposit them minutes later on the other side.
His scheme involves an airship that is a contemporary take on a Jules Verne lighter-than-air craft from the pages of vintage science fiction, updated with modern high-tech materials and computerized controls.
At first glance, it sounds most improbable.
But get Strauss talking and it’s quickly apparent that he’s done his homework.
As Strauss explains it, the Lava Ferry is sort of a mini-cable car system that will be able to carry around 25 passengers at a time up and over the lava, starting from the highway on one side of the flow, over to the the highway on the other side. The cable system would be anchored on each end by a 10-ton computerized winch, and supported in the center, safely above the lava, by a stationary, helium-filled airship. The whole system would work much like a ski lift, with the winches pulling the passenger gondola up the cable toward the airship, and then lowering it slowly down the cable to a landing on the far side of the flow.
Each trip is estimated to take just five minutes, allowing a many as 1,000 passengers to be ferried each day, Strauss said. He estimates local residents would have to pay $15 per trip, not insubstantial but potentially worth it when the time otherwise lost in the long commute and gasoline costs are taken into account.
Strauss estimates about 10 percent of affected Puna residents would use the Lava Ferry rather than take the long commute. The system would also be open to tourists, who would be charged twice the resident rate, or around $30 per person, Strauss said.
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