[~kitty~]

Originally Posted by slipstrike0159

If we are throwing sheer impossibilities out of the picture then imagination would bring a good concept to life. To address some points though you would have to bring in some practicality. First off, the zone idea would be good but the problem with having too many lanes going upwards is the inefficiency of shifting between layers. Lets say you are at the top layer but you find out that you are at your destination so you have to get to the bottom. Getting from the top to the bottom would take so much time it wouldnt decrease the time it takes to get around in normal cars. So either less lanes would have to be employed or a FLAWLESS system would have to be developed for quickly ascending and descending.
As for the idea of getting the cars to have the standardized layer system it would be fairly simple depending on which method you use for keeping the car off the ground. Which brings me to my next point.
Currently i can only think of two conceivable ways to pseudo-practically get the cars off the ground. Magnetism or thrust propulsion. If you use magnets then you could just adjust the strength of a magnet in the car such as an electric magnet that regulates the intensity of the push. However this leads to the problem of the other magnet. Unless you found a way to use the sheer gravity or metals of the earth (which would mean the magnetism would be different in different locations) then you would have to make huge magnet strips along, lets just say, the roads we have now. Obviously everyone can see why having giant magnets on our streets next to buildings and such would be a problem.
This leads to the second idea, propulsion. Current hovercraft vehicles use air and a curtain or dress type thing to keep the air pushing in the correct direction. If we somehow found a way to increase these intensities hundred-fold as to get a heavy car high off the ground then that would mean we have a massive amount of a steady stream of air pushing downward which would make the layer system impossible (for the air would be pushing down on cars beneath causing a change in altitude).
The third way would be of course to use what aircraft today use which would take too much takeoff distance and landing distance. However if a 4th way were developed then it might be possible. Such an idea would have to approach the realm of being able to repel the air molecules directly beneath the car or use them in such a way that we could drive on it as if air was a solid matter. Other than that and a silly "stuff a bunch of lighter-than-air materials inside the car" i cant think of another way to accomplish it.
As far as no fly zones go you could easily just have the hovering (or just really tall) traffic signs with whatever technology you used on the cars and simply just use the road system we have now with a few alterations. Flying over buildings though would have to grant a manual control to deviate from the "air highway" which could be as disastrous as a car going off the road and running into a building.
P.S.- You wouldnt need emergency vehicles that could fly if all the commercial vehicles were already flying. First off if there was an accident it would all crash to the ground anyway. Second, if the roads are clear then the emergency vehicles could just use the ground roads. Lastly, even if the emergency was in the air its not like we would be able to just take a step outside to the side of the "air highway" because last time i checked gravity still applies.
Edit: You would also have to find a way to compensate for the increased gusts at higher altitudes that could throw a car off course.

Wouldn't those be where the paragraphs are? It makes it easier to read when they are separated, in my opinion.