This is badass.

I wonder why not a ring? or a figure 8. I can see the appeal all this "central planning" had to the minds of yesteryear. All the utopia with the flying cars is exactly this kind of thinking... which we spent 1.5 centuries trying to achieve by will and bruit force alone... never got there.

What it takes is a totally benevolent totalitarian government and lots of money (which they didn't have (both of!) in the 30's for sure!)

We could have ring-cultures (on, like, mars) analogous to ring species.