On 29-Jan-12 17:57, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Stephen Sprunk wrote:
On 29-Jan-12 14:09, wrote:
On Jan 29, 11:07 am, Stephen Sprunk wrote:
Movement of tanks. That is the origin of the clearance, lane width and
bridge-strength requirements--and in turn limits the height, width and
weight of new US tanks.
I'm not sure that's true. Tanks are not very kind to concrete roadway
surfaces, nor do they move very fast, and of course drink up fuel. I
would think if tanks have to be moved any sort of distance they would
be loaded onto trains.
The tanks would not be directly on the roadway unless they were actually
deployed for battle on US soil, in which case I doubt anyone would care
about what it did to the pavement.
Otherwise, the tanks would be on transporters, which is why the
Interstate vertical clearance requirements are so high.
Transport is designed to current standards, not the other way around.
The "standards" of the day varied significantly from state to state and
were, in many places, completely insufficient for the Army's needs. The
entire purpose of the Interstate system was to unify and raise those
standards _to match the transport needs_.
In theory, the Army _could_ have tried to redesign their tanks, etc. to
the size, height and weight of a Model T or horse-drawn wagon--what much
of the US road infrastructure of the day could handle--but they probably
wouldn't have fared too well in battle.
S
--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking