by Kevin Coupe
Okay, this is my idea of infrastructure rejuvenation.
Wired has a story about how, in Bruges, Belgium, the city council has approved a plan developed by the De Halve Maan brewery - which has been making beer there for almost 500 years - "to save time and money while reducing emissions and congestion" while getting beer from the brewery to a new factory where it can be filtered, bottled, and shipped.
They're going to build a beer pipeline that will run underground from one place to the other.
According to the story, "Instead of making the three-mile drive in one of dozens of tankers that traverse town each day, the award-winning beer will flow through a 1.8-mile polyethylene pipeline, making the trip in 15 to 20 minutes. The pipeline will move 6,000 liters of beer every hour ... De Halve Maan gets to move its beer swiftly and efficiently, without giving up the medieval site that draws more than 100,000 visitors every year. Bruges doesn’t have to spend a dime, since the brewery guarantees it will cover the installation and road repair costs."
And as Wired points out, almost nobody will complain if a pipe bursts. They'll just grab mugs and head for the streets.
It strikes me as a perfect - and Eye-Opening - public-private partnership. And how politics really should work.
Okay, this is my idea of infrastructure rejuvenation.
Wired has a story about how, in Bruges, Belgium, the city council has approved a plan developed by the De Halve Maan brewery - which has been making beer there for almost 500 years - "to save time and money while reducing emissions and congestion" while getting beer from the brewery to a new factory where it can be filtered, bottled, and shipped.
They're going to build a beer pipeline that will run underground from one place to the other.
According to the story, "Instead of making the three-mile drive in one of dozens of tankers that traverse town each day, the award-winning beer will flow through a 1.8-mile polyethylene pipeline, making the trip in 15 to 20 minutes. The pipeline will move 6,000 liters of beer every hour ... De Halve Maan gets to move its beer swiftly and efficiently, without giving up the medieval site that draws more than 100,000 visitors every year. Bruges doesn’t have to spend a dime, since the brewery guarantees it will cover the installation and road repair costs."
And as Wired points out, almost nobody will complain if a pipe bursts. They'll just grab mugs and head for the streets.
It strikes me as a perfect - and Eye-Opening - public-private partnership. And how politics really should work.
- KC's View:
