4um: Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway

Title: Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway
Source: Rense.com
URL Source: http://www.rense.com/general72/mex.htm
Published: Jun 14, 2006
Author: Jerome H. Corsi
Post Date: 2006-06-14 06:26:04 by Zoroaster
Ping List: *The Border*
Keywords: None
Views: 404
Comments: 23

Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway By Jerome R. Corsi Human Events 6-14-6

Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn.

Once complete, the new road will allow containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman's Union in the process. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation's most modern highway straight into the heart of America. The Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new "SENTRI" system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, their new Smart Port complex, a facility being built for Mexico at a cost of $3 million to the U.S. taxpayers in Kansas City.

As incredible as this plan may seem to some readers, the first Trans-Texas Corridor segment of the NAFTA Super Highway is ready to begin construction next year. Various U.S. government agencies, dozens of state agencies, and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) have been working behind the scenes to create the NAFTA Super Highway, despite the lack of comment on the plan by President Bush. The American public is largely asleep to this key piece of the coming "North American Union" that government planners in the new trilateral region of United States, Canada and Mexico are about to drive into reality.

Just examine the following websites to get a feel for the magnitude of NAFTA Super Highway planning that has been going on without any new congressional legislation directly authorizing the construction of the planned international corridor through the center of the country.

* NASCO, the North America SuperCorridor Coalition Inc., is a "non-profit organization dedicated to developing the world's first international, integrated and secure, multi-modal transportation system along the International Mid-Continent Trade and Transportation Corridor to improve both the trade competitiveness and quality of life in North America." Where does that sentence say anything about the USA? Still, NASCO has received $2.5 million in earmarks from the U.S. Department of Transportation to plan the NAFTA Super Highway as a 10-lane limited-access road (five lanes in each direction) plus passenger and freight rail lines running alongside pipelines laid for oil and natural gas. One glance at the map of the NAFTA Super Highway on the front page of the NASCO website will make clear that the design is to connect Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. into one transportation system.

* Kansas City SmartPort Inc. is an "investor based organization supported by the public and private sector" to create the key hub on the NAFTA Super Highway. At the Kansas City SmartPort, the containers from the Far East can be transferred to trucks going east and west, dramatically reducing the ground transportation time dropping the containers off in Los Angeles or Long Beach involves for most of the country. A brochure on the SmartPort website describes the plan in glowing terms: "For those who live in Kansas City, the idea of receiving containers nonstop from the Far East by way of Mexico may sound unlikely, but later this month that seemingly far-fetched notion will become a reality."

* The U.S. government has housed within the Department of Commerce (DOC) an "SPP office" that is dedicated to organizing the many working groups laboring within the executive branches of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to create the regulatory reality for the Security and Prosperity Partnership. The SPP agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then-Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. According to the DOC website, a U.S.-Mexico Joint Working Committee on Transportation Planning has finalized a plan such that "(m)ethods for detecting bottlenecks on the U.S.-Mexico border will be developed and low cost/high impact projects identified in bottleneck studies will be constructed or implemented." The report notes that new SENTRI travel lanes on the Mexican border will be constructed this year. The border at Laredo should be reduced to an electronic speed bump for the Mexican trucks containing goods from the Far East to enter the U.S. on their way to the Kansas City SmartPort.

* The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is overseeing the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) as the first leg of the NAFTA Super Highway. A 4,000-page environmental impact statement has already been completed and public hearings are scheduled for five weeks, beginning next month, in July 2006. The billions involved will be provided by a foreign company, Cintra Concessions de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A. of Spain. As a consequence, the TTC will be privately operated, leased to the Cintra consortium to be operated as a toll-road.

The details of the NAFTA Super Highway are hidden in plan view. Still, Bush has not given speeches to bring the NAFTA Super Highway plans to the full attention of the American public. Missing in the move toward creating a North American Union is the robust public debate that preceded the decision to form the European Union. All this may be for calculated political reasons on the part of the Bush Administration.

A good reason Bush does not want to secure the border with Mexico may be that the administration is trying to create express lanes for Mexican trucks to bring containers with cheap Far East goods into the heart of the U.S., all without the involvement of any U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks.

The Undersecretary for Foreign Relations Enrique Berruga, announced his support for a driver's license that would be valid across the three nations comprising the Nafta marketplace.

"Mexico has put forward the proposal and it's being studied by Ottawa and Washington," he told local press.

Berruga added that driving academies could be established in which drivers could become familiarized with the driving regulations of each member nation, in English, Spanish and French.

As the Nafta member countries become more commercially integrated, they should work on developing the social side of Nafta, said Berruga. Nafta members "should provide themselves with privileges for being part of the same club," he added.

For example, as well as making a common license plate available, Nafta countries could create express customs service at border crossings for citizens of Nafta countries.

Berruga also pointed to the proposed "Canamex" project, which envisions the construction of a four-lane superhighway from Edmonton in Canada, through the United States, to Mexico City. The initiative's supporters, which include the Arizona and Sonora state governments, say the highway would lead to heightened trade and tourism between the three countries.

Kemp eyes currency for all of Americas: Envisions hemispheric parallel to euro.(Nation)
- The Washington Times -

Jack Kemp wants a single currency for the United States and the 33 other nations of the Western Hemisphere.

The former congressman, housing secretary under President Bush, and 1996 GOP vice presidential nominee is touting his idea as the foundation for a low-tariff trade zone from the Arctic Circle to the tip of Tierra del Fuego.

"There would be a common currency linked to the U.S. dollar, and you'd have stable exchange rates as a result," says Mr. Kemp, who first sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1988 and is considering a 2000 bid.

The currency idea sets Mr. Kemp apart in the large field of Republicans itching to make a White House run in three years.

But to some observers, the very words "common currency" smack of world government and the European Community's "euro," the new single currency that by 1999 is supposed to replace the French franc, Italian lira, German mark and other continental currencies.

For many in the political world, the Kemp idea is either lovable or laughable. For some, it's both.

"It may be a splendid idea that could usher in a new millennium of hemispheric or even global prosperity, but I don't see how you campaign on it," says Roland Gunn, a computer-industry lobbyist and former GOP congressional aide. "How do you keep people awake while you explain it?"

Rep. Mark Sanford, a South Carolina Republican and member of the Joint Economic Committee, says, "It doesn't strike me as something that would be politically viable in Congress. Both ends of the political spectrum like national sovereignty, and this would be seen as a threat to sovereignty."

Mr. Kemp does not appear to be wedded to the creation of a new single currency for the hemisphere.

Ask him if a pack of gum bought in Fairfax would require payment in U.S. dollars or a new common currency and he says, "If someone had a peso in Argentina and it were linked to the dollar, then you wouldn't care if it's a peso or a dollar."

Does that mean he really wants to see the dollar no longer printed and a new hemispheric money in its place? "No, I am very much for the sovereignty of the American dollar," he says.

Mr. Kemp, long a student of monetary policy, believes the United States and the entire hemisphere would see profound benefits from his proposal.

"A hemispheric free-trade zone would allow goods and services to cross borders [more freely] from the tip of Chile to the top of Canada," he says. "It would expand the growth of our economy and theirs."

He also says "part of our hemispheric immigration problem is related to the economies of some parts of Latin America."

If the dollar were linked to a modern version of the gold standard, every North, Central and South American country would peg its currency to the dollar, he argues. The resulting economic growth would mean fewer of their nationals would seek jobs in the United States through legal or illegal immigration.

"It's not the only answer, but part of the answer," he says.

But Mr. Sanford, a former investment banker, counters, "The South American currencies already are pegged to our dollar."

Economist Lawrence Kudlow, whom Mr. Kemp often cites, agrees and says that Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan already has linked the dollar unofficially to an updated form of the gold standard.

Whether Mr. Kemp's single- currency idea makes a suitable centerpiece for a presidential campaign platform is another matter in the view of some GOP leaders.

"It might appeal to the sophisticated businessmen who has an interest in foreign trade," says David Opitz, Wisconsin's Republican Party chairman. "But for the mainstream voter we have to appeal to, perhaps we have to have a more mainstream message, like a flat tax or eliminating the IRS."

Still, for Mr. Kemp, his common- currency idea constitutes a big-picture approach.

He says, "It is going to take leadership from the U.S., because only we can provide the leadership to re-establish a hemispheric and global monetary regime in which there is stability, credibility and integrity for our currency."

This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.Â Â All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.

Oh...mucho lanes. But who cares? We'll all be using the same curency and the same international drivers license. Open those flood gates baby, here comes Poncho, and Jose, and Maria, and Taco, and and various members of MS-13....

YES !!!!! I want NYC turned into a glowing ash heap. Nothing less will satisfy me.

No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. – James Madison

Without specifically saying "I told you so," best-selling author Jerome Corsi has pointed out that the warnings he gave in his 2005 release "Atomic Iran" are proving to be worryingly accurate.

"The time when Iran will have a bomb is imminent ... no matter how many times they swear their intentions are entirely peaceful," Corsi wrote in an April 2005 column.

"When I wrote "Atomic Iran," I predicted that the negotiations with the EU-3 would fail," Corsi told WND. "I wrote that Iran's continued efforts to develop atomic weapons secretly would leave no alternative except to take Iran before the Security Council for additional sanctions. I also predicted that the United Nations would not be able to do anything effective to stop Iran.

"What will happen next?" Corsi asks. "Iran will make an atomic bomb. They already have proved their Shahab-3 missile is solid-fuel ready. This reduces the launch time to virtually nothing, making the Shahab-3 harder to hit by the Patriot and Arrow anti-missile systems we and the Israelis have in place. A missile is most reliably downed immediately after launch. Hitting a missile when it is in the final stages of heading to earth is like hitting a bullet with a bullet – almost impossible. The Shahab-3 will easily reach Tel Aviv."

In the April column as well as in his book, Corsi revealed the Islamic Republic of Iran had announced the results of a successful test of the Shahab-3, which flew 1,700 kilometers fast and accurately in March 2005. Today, CBS and the AP report "experiments with high explosives, possibly linked to future weapons tests, were carried out as recently as 2003 in Iran."

Corsi argues that the current buzz surrounding Iran's nuclear ambitions "is not alarmist fear-mongering." And the proof comes straight from the mouth of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In recent months, Ahmadinejad made headlines for claiming the Holocaust was a "myth," and by announcing: "We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world."

Nuclear capabilities and a radical desire to rule the world do not mix. In October, Ahmadinejad declared his desire for Israel to be "wiped out from the map of the world." The remarks were not a flippant off-the-cuff comment. The hard-line Iranian president was speaking before "The World Without Zionism" conference. Following his speech, 3,000 students in attendance began chanting "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!"

As if the conference's harsh rhetoric were not enough, Iran has recently promised immediate retaliation if Tehran is referred to the U.N. Security Council. Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister, told the Guardian that any military action by the U.S. or Israel against Iran would have "severe consequences" and would be countered "by all means" at Iran's disposal.

Wednesday, Britain, France and Germany, along with U.S. support, submitted a draft resolution asking the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council. As a result, all members of the Security Council agreed not to take action or impose sanctions until the IAEA presents its report regarding Iran's nuclear program in early March.

Yesterday, the IAEI Board of Governors began its two-day emergency session after "reaching an impasse in negotiations with Iran when the Islamic state announced last month that it had broken IAEA sales on its nuclear facilities," according to CNN. A vote on the EU3's draft resolution is expected to take place today.

Meanwhile, U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte told Congress yesterday that while Iran probably does not have nuclear weapons or the material necessary to produce them, they remain a matter of "highest concern."

"Iran was able in four months to open Isfahan and solve the technical problems necessary to produce uranium hexafluoride gas. Now Natanz has been opened. Iran will need only a few more months to solve the technical problems of enriching uranium. We are not years away from Iran's ability to have a nuclear weapon; we may only be months away.

"Iran has turned over to the military the operation of its nuclear program. The IAEA has disclosed documents that show Iran has explored the process of turning highly enriched uranium into the metalized form whose only purpose is to make nuclear weapons. Again, Iran buys more time, since Security Council action to impose sanctions on Iran is by no means certain. The world is playing a dangerous game of nuclear chicken with radical religious leaders who continue to export terror and proclaim their desire to wipe Israel off the map."

Related special offer: "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians"

Whistleblower magazine: "'MOST DANGEROUS NATION ON EARTH: Why America must wake up now and deal with Iran's imminent threat"

Reports: U.S. preparing military strike on Iran Assassination attempt on Iran's Ahmadinejad?

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News);
8/26/2005

Aug. 26--A company was selected Thursday to develop a system so that motorists can pay their way on Trans-Texas Corridor toll roads without stopping at a booth.

Meeting in Austin, the Texas Transportation Commission selected Raytheon Co. as the prime contractor for the system. The first leg of Trans-Texas is a planned toll road that would be an alternative to Interstate 35 from Dallas- Fort Worth to San Antonio. Construction is expected to be under way by 2007 and be completed by 2015.

Eventually, toll roads, rail lines and utilities would crisscross the state, according to Gov. Rick Perry's vision of Trans-Texas. The type of toll collection system is still on the drawing board. But in general, state officials envision a system that gives motorists choices to pay their tolls. Motorists who have TollTags, which are commonly used on Dallas-area toll roads, might still be able to use their windshield-mounted transponders on Trans- Texas.

Drivers without TollTags or similar devices might be mailed a bill after their vehicle is identified by its license plate. Raytheon has built electronic toll collection systems around the world, including the all-electronic 407-ETR highway in Toronto

One of the funding mechanisms for the coming AmericanUnion - as AJ and Jerome were just discussing.

Thanks for the heads up on Corsi. I was unaware of his background. I came across his article on Reese. com. Recent rumors have circulated that Rense is a Zionist front.

Along with speeding tickets if you happen to get from point A to point B too quickly. They'll also notify your insurance company for you to make sure you're paying enough in insurance to speed.

'Black boxes' in cars are the new eyewitness.(News)

Byline: Erin Holmes Daily Herald Staff Writer

Think you're alone in your car? Think again.

The "black boxes" that long have defined the aftermath of airplane crashes have hit the highway on four wheels, and there's a good chance there's one in your car.

Event data recorders - also called recordable airbag modules and installed by automakers to monitor air bag deployment - can be a perfect eyewitness to traffic accidents, with the ability to take clear snapshots of what happened before a crash.

That includes how fast you were driving, whether you accelerated through that red light, whether you buckled your seatbelt and if and when you braked.

The accurate accident account provided by one such device is being called solid evidence in the case against a hearse driver who last fall crashed into Arlington Heights Police Officer Charles Tiedje's squad car.

The hearse driver, Aleksandr Babayev, pleaded guilty to running a red light when the Oct. 13 collision occurred, but insisted he had blacked out beforehand and remembered nothing.

The hearse's data recorder has proved otherwise, tracking events for 5 seconds before the crash and, as the devices have begun to do, playing a key role in accident reconstruction.

About the size of a deck of cards, the small silver box typically sits under the driver's seat, in the passenger compartment or under the dashboard. But few drivers even know they're there.

"People know that when there's an airplane crash, (the black box) will be looked at ... Eventually people will find that out about automobiles, too," said Illinois State Police Sergeant John Clark, a certified crash reconstructionist.

Since airbag modules are the triggers that decide when to inflate an airbag, all vehicles with air bags have some sort of that device. They've been a part of cars for more than 20 years, but not until the late 1990s were they able to record pre-crash data.

"The information that can be downloaded tells a lot more than the witnesses can remember because these crashes happen so quickly," said Terry Rhadigan, safety communications manager at General Motors.

The recorder gathers information when airbags are deployed or nearly deployed - usually during a collision, when the change in velocity is at least 20 mph. They don't record information when you're simply traveling down the highway.

Only devices in some models made by General Motors allow crash investigators to download the data, said James Kerr, associate programs manager at Vetronix Corp., which provides the software. Data from recorders in some Ford vehicles will become accessible sometime this year, he said.

Other companies surely will follow, as the devices become more standard in automobiles and develop reputations as reliable tools that could revolutionize accident reconstruction.

"It's going to enhance what we do," Clark said. "It can't tell us everything, but it's really a step in the right direction."

Hindering the progress is the fact that data gathered from the boxes is tricky to interpret, software to download the information is expensive and few officers have been adequately trained in the process.

But in the Tiedje case, the little black box few knew about is making its way into civil court, with an intricate look at the seconds before Babayev's hearse nearly took an officer's life.

The device's data, downloaded with the help of General Motors engineers, says Babayev actually accelerated in the seconds before the collision, reaching a peak speed of 63 mph - nearly 20 mph faster than the posted speed limit - and then, one second before the crash, braking.

"This black box is such a breath of fresh air because it disputes completely what (Babayev) said," said Tim Tiedje, Charles Tiedje's brother. Tim Tiedje had seen a television story on event data recorders months before his brother's accident, and suggested lawyers check out whether the hearse had one on board.

It did.

And Tim Tiedje said it proved a blessing, because his brother couldn't remember anything from the crash and eyewitness accounts can't be considered flawless.

"Lucky for my brother, he had in fact the best witness you could have on this planet, something that isn't affected by the elements and doesn't lie," Tim Tiedje said. "In this case, it proved my brother ... was as innocent as innocent can be when that hearse changed our lives forever."

The evidence will be used in a lawsuit filed by the Tiedje family against Babayev, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages and names his company, Weinstein Family Services Inc. and Weinstein Brothers Inc., as defendants.

"He claims he had blacked out ... well the black box shows he was in control of the motor vehicle," Arlington Heights Police Captain John Fellmann said. "It would be hard to conclude someone unconscious would be able to perform these maneuvers."

Attorney Robert Clifford, representing the Tiedje family , said this is the first time he's seen a car's black box data used in an actual case - and said the pre-crash information on Babayev's acceleration and braking should make the case an easier one.

"It's a coincidence of life," Clifford said. "I've said it before - someone was looking over Chuck Tiedje's shoulder."

But while it proved beneficial in this case, the event data recorder has stirred questions about privacy issues, especially since many drivers don't know they're being "monitored."

But since the devices largely are used by automakers to test whether airbags are deploying correctly, the "black box" isn't necessarily something everyone needs to know about, Clark said.

And intrusive or not, Tim Tiedje always will consider the event data recorder information a savior.

"It's a touchy thing, but it's the truth," Tim Tiedje said. "If a piece of equipment can help get to the truth, good or bad for whichever party, then I think it's a good thing."

The lawsuit is in the early stages of litigation. Clifford does not expect it to reach trial until at least 2002.

- Daily Herald staff writer Graham Buck contributed to this report.

GRAPHIC: Your car's black box

Though the devices have been around for awhile, few drivers know they exist - and many don't know how they work.

Some things they can tell investigators

- Vehicle speed (5 seconds before impact)

- Engine speed (5 seconds before impact)

- Brake status (5 seconds before impact)

- Throttle position (5 seconds before impact)

- State of driver's seatbelt switch (On or Off)

- Change in velocity

What it said about Tiedje's crash

- Hearse was traveling nearly 20 mph faster than speed limit

- Hearse driver accelerated before collision

- Hearse driver braked fully one second before collision

Source: Vetronix Corporation, Daily Herald research

This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.

In the very near future, your vehicle will only take you to two destinations: Poorhouse, jail.

RFID tags connect smart cars to smart highways. (radio frequency identification)(includes related articles)

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags will play a vital role in linking automobiles with smart highways. Traffic congestion has prompted experts to use electronics as a solution. A portion of the California State Route 91 will be equipped with an automated technology that will allow two-way communications between the vehicle and the highway. The highway control system transmits a query signal, which the vehicle-mounted RFID responds to by sending back the appropriate information.

Small RF identification (RFID) tags are part of the critical communication link between automobiles and electronically directed "smart" highways. Other uses for RFID are increasing rapidly.

On an average day, 225,000 vehicles travel on California State Route 91, connecting Orange and Riverside counties. Sometimes, traffic is so heavy a driver can spend two or three hours traveling 10 miles. And, within 15 years, according to estimates, traffic on SR-91 will increase by 50%.

Fortunately, highways are getting some help from electronics to deal with heavy traffic. A year from now, part of SR-91 will be a "smart" highway, maintaining automatic, two-way electronic communication with cars to help traffic flow more smoothly. Cars on SR-91 will be smart, too, thanks largely to a simple communication device called an RFID tag.

When the SR-91 control system queries them, the RFID tags act simply as transponders that send short, unique codes. As the heart of future smart highways, the tags' essential function, automatic vehicle identification (AVI), provides information that makes traffic flow more smoothly and quickly. The system can electronically collect prepaid tolls, for example, eliminating the need for motorists to stop or even slowdown at toll booths. Traffic will move more quickly, fuel economy will improve, and pollutants will decrease.

On SR-91, an RFID tag on a vehicle's dashboard will enable a motorist to travel in toll lanes, now under construction, that will be off-limits to the hordes of non-paying motorists. The transponders will communicate with the highway's control system via antennae on gantries over the roadway. A series of gantries at strategic locations will connect with the larger system via a fiber-optic backbone. MFS Network Technologies (Omaha, NE, (402) 342-2052) is designing the system.

Although RFID tags aren't new (see box, "The growing world of RFID," and Ref 1), the transponders on SR-91 will move commercial RFID technology into new areas. Until now, most RFID tags have operated over maximum ranges of only 2 to 3 ft, using frequencies around 125 kHz. The SR-91 transponders, however, must work over ranges of 20 ft or more. In addition, to work with fast-moving cars, they must receive and send information rapidly.

For longer ranges and higher transmission rates, RFID tags must operate at high frequencies. The SR-91 transponders, for example, which Texas Instruments' Registration and Information Systems (TIRIS) Division developed, use FM transmissions in a band from 902 to 928 MHz. The California Department of Transportation specified this band, largely because of plentiful and inexpensive components for use in 900-MHz consumer products.

Each SR-91 transponder is about the same length and width as--but thicker than--a 3.5-in. floppy disk. Unlike smaller, low- frequency tags, which rectify and store received RF energy to power their own transmissions, each SR-91 tag contains a long-life battery. The battery also powers 128 bits of SRAM, which contains the device ID and other information. Each tag costs about $30 to $35.

In the most basic operational step, an RFID transponder simply responds to a query from the SR-91 control system. The system asks for the transponder's identity, and the transponder replies by sending a code programmed in its memory. The system then searches its database for that identity and grants appropriate privileges--for example, tollway access to a paid-up toll customer.

A system can also write to an RFID tag's memory, although SR-91 won't initially use that capability. By modifying stored values--for example, by debiting a stored account balance--the system can perform tasks such as accepting electronic "tokens" without involving the system database. The process takes as little as 20 msec.

To work with moving vehicles, an RFID system must be fast. The transmission rate to and from SR-91 RFID transponders is 300 kbps, allowing a one-way, 128-bit transmission in less than 0.5 msec. System protocols consume additional time, however, and multiple read operations are sometimes necessary to guarantee correct operation. The specification for SR-91 requires 40 reads while a vehicle is in the antenna's footprint, or field, guaranteeing that the system will work with vehicles traveling as fast as 150 mph.

In a system as complex and dynamic as a smart highway, RFID must work reliably. It can neither allow vehicles to go undetected nor incorrectly identify vehicles. It must distinguish vehicles traveling close to each other and vehicles that are changing lanes. It must not cause significant EMI, but it must tolerate interference. And, finally, it must operate at low power levels. (Permissible power levels vary, according to requirements that regulating bodies of different countries set. Europe has plans for several smart highways.)

To achieve good noise immunity at a relatively low cost, the RFID tags for use on SR-91 use FSK transmission. Phase-shift-keying and spread-spectrum techniques offer better noise immunity, but at significantly higher prices. To guarantee data integrity, each transmission uses a 16-bit cyclic-redundancy check. Unless there is agreement in all steps of a cycle--a poll by the system, a response by the transponder, and an acknowledgement by the system--a "no-read" indication results.

Antenna orientation determines footprint and thus affects the system's ability to distinguish one vehicle among many. Instead of being oriented for maximum read range (50 to 100 ft), each SR-91 antenna has a footprint that covers only a short segment of a highway lane. An antenna on an 18-ft gantry typically has a 12- to 15-ft-wide footprint to cover a 12-ft lane. If the gantry is at a toll station, where cars may be in a line, the footprint typically is 15 to 20 ft long. On an open stretch of highway, the footprint may be as long as 25 ft.

Avoiding simultaneous responses from RFID tags on numerous vehicles requires some clever techniques. For example, after a successful cycle of poll, response, and acknowledge, an RFID tag turns off for 10 sec. While the tag is off the vehicle, it is usually identifying travels well out of the antenna's footprint; during that time, the tag does not respond to further polls.

Synchronizing antennae helps differentiate among cars in adjacent lanes. Antennae for different lanes take turns polling, and each operates at a slightly different frequency, usually 2 to 4 MHz away from the frequencies of nearby lanes. By observing the time and frequency of an RFID tag's response, the system can tell in which lane a car is traveling.

In tests, the SR-91 system has identified two vehicles traveling in separate lanes within 1 ft of each other. It can also identify two motorcycles traveling side by side in one lane, even when they are switching lanes. The SR-91 system correctly identifies 99.95% of the vehicles it encounters, according to TIRIS general manager Dave Slinger. For the few vehicles the system doesn't identify, a video system captures an image of the vehicle's license plate and invokes human intervention.

AVI with RFID not only collects tolls but also collects different toll amounts, according to the type of a vehicle and its use. RFID can also help correlate trucks' identities with their weights as they pass over weigh-in- motion systems embedded in highway pavement.

In time, smart highways will automatically direct traffic in response to accidents, construction, or inclement weather. The SR- 91 project, in fact, includes programmable highway signs for that purpose. Although SR-91 is limited in scope, it establishes the critical link between highways and cars that have the beginnings of intelligence.

Reference

1. Legg, Gary, "Small rugged memories put data where it's needed," EDN, Aug 20, 1992, pg 99.

THE GROWING WORLD OF RFID

The use of battery-operated, high-frequency RFID tags on smart highways deviates from RFID's more typical applications. Most RFID tags are tiny and operate at relatively low frequencies, typically around 125 kHz. In addition, by rectifying received RF energy and storing it in a small capacitor, a low-frequency tag powers its own response transmissions without a battery. The combination of size and battery-free operation makes RFID useful just about anywhere.

Ford Motor Co, for example, prevents car theft by embedding a passive (no- battery) RFID tag in the ignition key of some of its European-made cars. When someone inserts a key in the ignition and turns it, an antenna in the steering column polls the RFID tag for its unique identity. Without the tag's response, the car's engine-control computer shuts down, and the car stops running. The system is virtually impossible to bypass, according to Ford.

In the near future, key-embedded RFID tags may even customize cars for drivers. For example, a husband and wife could have separate keys with RFID tags programmed with preferences for seat adjustment, climate control, and so forth. Simply turning on the ignition would provide the settings the driver normally wants. Ford is planning to use RFID in some of its American-made cars, but it's not saying when or what capabilities will be available.

A common use for RFID tags is in livestock and animal control. A device resembling a large hypodermic needle inserts a tag encased in a minuscule glass capsule (about 4x30 mm) under the skin of an animal's neck. The tag holds the animal's identity and perhaps additional information, such as vaccination records. To identify the animal and to store or retrieve information about it, someone need only "scan" the animal with a handheld device within a distance of about 3 ft.

In Europe, RFID tags assist in metered trash collection. When a garbage truck lifts a trash receptacle and weighs it, a device on the truck reads RFID tags on the trash receptacles. The RFID tags provide customer and trash-weight information, which the trash collector uses to bill the customer.

Mounted on security badges, RFID tags can control access to facilities. On a key fob, a tag can authorize fuel refilling for a fleet truck or taxi. Attached to assembly components in factories, tags can provide routing information and assembly documentation and instructions. Strapped to the wrist of a marathon runner, a tag can speed processing at the finish line.

Low- frequency RFID tags are also cheap. Because they don't require high-speed circuits or batteries, some sell for as little as $2 to $3 in large quantities.

The future also holds much in store for high- frequency RFID tags, however. In addition to tags already operating in the 900- MHz band, future tags will operate at 2 GHz or even higher. In the United States, several companies are lobbying the FCC for approval of tags that operate at 2.45 GHz. In Europe, plans are under way for 5.8-GHz tags.

This Trans Texas Corrider is TRUE. It will be a GIANT SCAR upon the land uprooting communities, farmers and homeowners along it's horridly ugly route. Say goodbye to the beauty of the land, the wildlife, the HISTORY, the archaeology, the history, the aesthetics......this is pure unadulterated GREED at work here folks. Write to the TRAITOR AND WHORE PERRY AND TELL HIM WHAT A FUCKING ASSHOLE HE IS.

"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people in -- and the West in general -- into an unbearable hell and a choking life."
--Osama bin Laden

Have Texans been trying to fight this? This is the first I've heard of this particular NWO conniving.

"We shall have world government whether or not you like it - by conquest or consent." - International financier and CFR member James Warburg Feb. 7, 1950

they're giving us toll roads..this despite the fact that 98% of us say we don't want them. funny, tho, politicians who do always win!

"Sarah if the American people ever find out what we have done to them, they will chase us down the streets and lynch us". [George H. W. Bush to Sarah McClendon]