About a week behind us, Hyperloop Technologies announced it will build a test facility in southern Nevada.
They envision building an electric vehicle to zip passengers and packages at . . . 335 mph. That's about half the speed of sound.
I wonder if Utah had pursued this enterprise, if it could have snagged it. And, I wonder if Utah might yet win a portion of the project, as Hyperloop said it is still looking for a site to build a nearly two-mile test track.
I wonder if Utah's various Salt Flats might provide a natural place for Hyperloop -- or whatever company wants to test futuristic transportation capable of speeds such as 335 mph. The Bonneville Salt Flats were once about 13 miles long. How long are they now? And, I wonder if other salt flats are around the Great Salt Lake that might even be better than the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Among the offerings, there's an arm of the lake up north whose waters have been separated from the rest of the lake by a railroad causeway -- separated so long that a plate of salt developed atop the lake in the past few decades. I do not know if the surface is strong enough to support vehicles, but I like to think it might be. The salt surface is said to be one of the largest man-made objects on earth, so it dwarfs the Bonneville Salt Flats.
At the beginning of October, I understand, the Union Pacific Railroad began to carve spillways between the main body of the lake and the north arm. That will destroy the sprawling new salt surface.
I have never visited the north arm, though I should. My life spins too fast to even drive up the street and see. I wonder if it is dry, or wet, and whether it is suitable. I wonder if the villagers up north of the lake have any thoughts on what has developed there. For all I know, some water is atop the surface, or the salt is not thick enough to support such enterprise.
For all I know, bring in this endeavor would destroy a portion of one of North America's great wetlands.
I only know this, if you have a resource, you shouldn't throw it away. You should develop it.
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