Word: greened
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
With tens of thousands of electric vehicles, or EVs, expected to hit U.S. asphalt over the next 10 years, Gallagher's idea of rebuilding tattered ribbons of country road is gaining traction. The initial concept of the green corridor may not be new - it started years ago with makeovers of abandoned rail beds to create scenic bike paths, often called "rails to trails" programs - but no state has yet created a comprehensive green-highway system designed to accommodate the electric-powered cars of the future...
...under 35 m.p.h., unless your vehicle is crash-tested and certified for higher speeds. Of course, good old gas guzzlers are welcome too, as long as they go slow. "Everyone that's in this movement has a yearning for a slower pace," says Dean Curtis, who operates the website Green Interstate. "The great thing about the green highways is that they already exist. People just have to be reacquainted with them." (See the history of the electric...
...green-highway movement is not a no-brainer, according to Dean Greb, a retired Chrysler marketing executive in Saline, Mich., and an EV enthusiast. He lives a half-mile from U.S. 12. "People don't fully understand the concept because they don't see a lot of electric cars and they don't know the trends," says Greb. "It will take funding and time to put in electric charge stations along the route and to promote the concept and to create events that draw people to spend their vacations driving from town to town...
This month, Gallagher and Peter Hanses, who manages 17 heritage routes for Michigan's Department of Transportation, will attend a meeting with representatives from the communities along U.S. 12 to decide exactly that: whether to pass a resolution to make the old roadway the country's first dedicated green corridor. U.S. 12 began as a patchwork of ancient Native American trails and became Michigan's first paved road, stretching 212 miles from Detroit to Chicago and connecting 25 quaint towns, each about 12 miles (or a day's lazy horse ride) apart. (See pictures of the world's most polluted...
Many of them are nearly ghost towns these days, including the once popular auto-touring stop of Irish Hills, where two empty wooden observation towers loom over the rolling Michigan landscape. "A true green corridor might bring these places back to life," says Greb. "We could draw people from around the world. It could be the start of where the old-fashioned America meets...