The expressways of Miklasgard is a mixture of orange and green pasta

The city uses two types of expressways. They all use US numbering system, where north-south freeways are odd-numbered, and east-west are even. Long distance, major expressways have numbers divisible by 5. Expressway branches going through a city and rejoining the expressway are numbered with a three-digit number, the first digit being even, the last two being the number of the original expressway. Non-loop branches have an odd digit in their three-digit number.

Freeways are numbered on orange shields, are free or have minimal flat-fee tolls, usually for crossing a major bridge, a tunnel or the Mielborg-Yngeborg-Kingstad Royal Territory.

Expressways proper are numbered with green shields, and are always straighter, wider, have more lanes and higher speed limits. Many of these expressways are military, since the military is the original inventor of the concept. Such expressways always have the "YIELD TO MILITARY VEHICLES. STAY IN THE RIGHT LANES" signs posted at every entrance ramp. These expressways are have distance-based toll system. As with all toll systems in Attland, they automatically scan vehicle's license plates.

Some freeeways turn into expressways as 55 outside the city, or when turning into a shortcut or a tunnel, as is the case with 10, 22, 24, 314.

Some of the expressways have freeway branches, as 69's 369, 6's 106 and 306, 51's 151.

Miklasgard's subway system is actually a railroad network

The region's suburban railroad (similar to German S-bahn), intercity railroads, broad gauge (7-foot) the 770 Express network, the dual track, regular subway, the monorail (also similar to a guideway rail), and the suspended monorail system IS the city's rapid transport system which works like a railroad network of a medium-sized European country.

Small river that roars (with industry)

This is where Balgrey River widens into its minidelta entering Yahalma River in Miklasgard. The delta in the late 19th century has been made into a Balgrahaven (Belgravia) port, an impressively huge river multi-modal port served by a cargo airport, hundred of railroad tracks, truck terminals, transshipment barge docks, and manufacturer's private docks - like auto assembly plants, chemical, aircraft, steel and other industries. Balgrahaven neighborhood's residential high rises are in the backdrop. These are modest test buildings for what is now called superblocks, or skyblocks, each a home to 4-10 thousand residents. The tower on the left is an apartment house -residential hotel. - Now I stand corrected - it is an automated parking tower, the photo below is the view of an interior.

Subway-suburban-commuter station and an intercity train

The already congested station serving the subway-suburban-commuter train mix, is overshadowed by an intercity express train station in eastern Broksness.

Express train and concrete

The express train, JAWS movie-like, is arriving at a station overshadowed by a city rail station and more high rises under construction.

A web of subways and highrises

Here is a picture of a station somewhere in Miklasgard's Brithwold multimillion district. Local suburban subway and suburban commuter train tracks merge into a futuristic web supervised by cement and glass structures.

Express train next to suburban tracks

This Shinkansen-looking express train is slowly making its way through the dense congestion of Miklasgard's Brithwold residential area. Next to its tracks is the suburban-city service train station. I can't remember which station that is.

Miklasgard: hydrofoils and bridges

Miklasgard means hundreds of bridges sporting bold curves and lines, and hydrofoils as well. This is a bridge across Glada River, looking south at Broya, the eastern outskirt.


The residential bridge spanning the Toyrastan Bay. One of the new hydrofoils.

I am buying an already used alternative NRG car

It has been less than a year since last September when the government ordered the whole country to switch all passenger-carrying cars from internal combustion to either hybrid, electric or biopower (synthetic muscle) power.

Half the cars switched to hybrid, using the synthetic esterol (ester-alcohol) fuels. Some, probably municipal and corporate pools went plugin-electrical all the way, and good 20% are driven by the synthetic muscle engine.

Given that Citroen C series car look has been regarded as one of the most attractive of cars, Attland's remanufacturers and custom makers have been purchasing Citroens from the French manufacturers and installing engines according to a customer's specifications.

I needed a car, right away. I could not afford to buy a brand new car. Or wait for a custom car to be put together. So I bought a sued one, It already has the synmuscle engine in it.
The car is very simple to operate. Simpler than a plugin electrical. In the electrical controller 1, the battery supplies current to the programmed pulse generator, which contract or expand the individual synthetic muscles by sending pulses of specific polarity, current and duration. Each muscle is made of a proprietary crystal-impregnated polymer invented by King Yarl.

The concept is not so new. My interior decorator girlfriend from Russia says that long time ago, in the Russian children's story The Adventures of Neznaika and his Friends (Приключения Незнайки и его друзей, 1954) Nikolai Nosov had the cute idea of a contracting muscle-powered car, described jokingly as a single-muscle engine that has a cylinder filled with soda drink. Very Jules-Verne-like prophecy, I'd say. Some time later, Toyota cam up on the idea of electrically sensitive gel (Tohru Shiga Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Japan)

As long as I stay in Attland, with its weather between 60-90 deg F, it means the motor will need no warming and minimal cooling by its electrolyte conditioner.

There is no huge bank of batteries, as in other electrical cars. Instead, in the trunk there is a large battery the size of a microwave. The engine itself is rather small, since the bionic muscle produces power during contracting and expanding. There is no large fluid storage tanks. Half of the electrolyte is always in the electrolyte conditioner ( see 4 in the drawing above). The engine is also light since the camshaft has no flywheel, because the engine cycles have no dead spot - due to the electrical-stimulated contracting and expanding. There are no pumps. The electrolyte is recirculated by the bionic muscles' action. The two-cylinder bionic muscle engine is rated for 120 HP.

When idle, no current is used. If the weather is very hot, the 4 conditioner automatically sends electrolyte to an external loop ( I guess it is not shown on the diagram).

The downside? The bionic muscle has a limited optimal performance period, something like 1000 hours. I didn't see the replacement prices, but as a new technology, it seems that the specific bionic muscle that is sued in my car would cost around 700 gold crown ounces to replace. The battery needs to be recharged every two weeks or so, for a normal 2 hour everyday highway-street driving.

Commercial airlines start to refuel planes in flight

When I went back to work in Attland I flew United to Marlboro, on a flight that continued to Rio. This is a typical stopover that is also to ease up on the air congestion in US, and to indirectly enforce better flight safety enforcement since Attland air security standards are a lot better than American, which are hardly and efficiently enforced.

I have just heard it on English Dixiland news channel that ALFA is the first air carrier that in the middle November will start mid-air refueling on it long flights. I guess they will use dedicated tankers, like many militaries do, to actually refuel planes in flight, without passengers even knowing.

This practice is supposed to cut operating costs and travel time for passengers. I agree. How much time and money lost by having to land, wait for the refueling, taxiing, etc. They said it's being tested now. I can't wait, because on my vacation I am going back to NYC and from there fly to Australia or New Zealand, by way of ALFA, and I will try to take pictures of this in-flight refueling.