The Americans negligence of their own rail lines and public transit systems throughout the 1900s and early 2000s created a serious problem when they could no longer ignore increasingly severe oil crises from the 2070s onward. Their solution was to electrify the sprawling American highway system. Power lines arced over freeway lanes where trolleybuses and mile-long cargo trams replaced the once-ubiquitous automobile. 34
Airships saw a revival in usage in in the second half of the 21st century as the cost of fueling heavier-than-air travel grew. Solar-heated thermal blimps dominated shortrange in commuter air travel, especially in places such as northern Canada and Siberia that with the thawing of permafrost saw increased settlement but poor infrastructure development. Large, long-haul cargo blimps were typically of hybrid design with a skin of solar panels coating the top half.
LOGAN STAHL
