The issue I see in a full hallway is there is little chance you will see unobstructed for that 55' distance. You are more likely to see only 10-20' unobstructed anyways.
As far as wasting FOV on the floors and ceilings, I don't see it that way. I look at it from the perspective that I don't want blind spots. I don't want it to be easy to obscure a camera without being seen by another either. Having the opposing, staggered views acheives this IMO.
All that said, it was just an off the cuff idea I had when reading the OP. I'm not saying it is "THE" way, just one way I would model it and see what the coverages look like.
Also, if your VMS doesn't support dewarping, a lot of models do support camera side dewarping. I tried seaching Finder for these models, but dewarping isn't a search option.
If you are opposed to panoramics all together, then simply stagger 2.8mm wide angles in the same manner, but you will need more to cover the same space. It all depends on how much pixel density you really need.